Providing a Comprehensive Backend Billing System: ‘Mercury Medical’ Maker CrisSoft, LLC, a San Antonio-based Software Company, to Foray into Unexplored Markets

We partner with organizations that innovate and have a vision for growth: Paul Criswell

Technology has clearly had a huge impact on the field of medical billing and coding. Whereas 30 years ago all billing and coding work would have been done with a paper and pen and submitted through the mail, today’s billing and coding professionals are increasingly finding their workspace to be virtual and electronic.

CrisSoft, LLC focuses on producing robust software for all sorts of business types. The company has created products that range from Medical Billing Software to Complete Trust Management Software. Its products are created in business environments that serve production, process, and customer service needs. CrisSoft enjoys a non-traditional work environment with a focus on product quality and customer support.

The company was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

Paul Criswell, CrisSoft, LLC CEO, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Paul Criswell opened the business with his wife – Geri.

“We were contractors for Datapoint Corporation. We were good; we could build anything. We believed we could write the best software, we did it too. We opened the company to go to a beach on the weekends, basically.”

How successful was your first project roll on? Share the experience.

Mercury Medical was our first product. We built Mercury Medical for provider billing. It was very successful; it just made sense for us. The product was our first experience building software; we understood we could build it once and license it to many. Laboratory billing came three years later, and then Geri got sick so I had different priorities. It was when my brother Stephen Criswell came into my office that Mercury Medical got its second life, he started the marketing push.

Is your company a ‘leader’ or a ‘follower’?

We’re a leader. We don’t go with the flow, we focus on what matters to us – customers. We’ve never looked to another organization for motivation.

We’ve kept our focus on our goals, which is built on product development, goods and services, and customer support. We’re smart because we listen to our customers and the industry.

In addition, we don’t try to do everything; we build backend billing with revenue cycle management. We’re not trying to build a frontend system and divide our attention; we don’t compete in this space; we let the EMR/EHR be those experts. We will continue to be the backend experts who also excel with HL7 and proprietary connections. We don’t have any exclusive contracts with any EHR/EMR; we like our customers to have options.

Fostering a culture of feedback is crucial to the success of every organization. How is this true with your company?

At times it is difficult to get deeper level feedback, superficial “it’s good” is much easier to come by. I wish people understood the value of their experience to those who create the experience. Mercury Medical is our work; it helps providers across the country focus on their patients while the software handles revenue cycle management (RCM). At CrisSoft we view Mercury Medical as a progressive masterpiece – it cannot be contented. Our software will continue to subsist as long as healthcare continues to evolve; we have to be ready for whatever is thrown at our customers. Specific functionality is precious, for a time, and then it is replaced with the newest required feature; we must continue to pursue our education to remain relevant in this industry.

What are the factors that make your brand stand out from the competition?

We’re selective about who we work with, both vendors and customers. We know our software does what any medical biller needs, but if it’s not the right fit we’re not interested. Some offices aren’t ready for Mercury Medical; we’ve seen some groups struggle in the transition, especially when they’re moving from primitive software which doesn’t support system-led process. There’s no magic with software, process decisions need to be made up front with our customers. We stick to what we know, we’re the Mercury experts and our customers are professional billers. We advice them on Mercury and they determine their process.

With that being said, we need partners who understand the decisions they’re making and follow through on enforcing that process in their office. There’s some elbow grease in setup, we work through the transition – it’s not always easy to change people’s muscle memory – then it becomes process per usual. When users get comfortable we can re-evaluate with management to determine where processes can improve again and how the customers can grow with Mercury Medical. We partner with organizations that innovate and have a vision for growth.

How does your company contribute to the competitive global IT platform at large?

We partner with the best, as mentioned above. For over 30 years, we’ve been developing Mercury Medical in Sunbelt Programming Language for Business. We help by bridging PL/B into our users’ professional environment and experience. We are spreading technology and innovation through software and services. We applaud the work of Steve White, Ed Boedecker, and Bill Keech over in Tyler, Texas. They’ve been with us since Datapoint.

We’ve also had the opportunity to work closely with Heartland A Global Payments Company and we’ve built their latest iFrame technology into Mercury Medical. Heartland has helped us by extending our payment processing technologies.

Do you have any new products ready to be launched?

We are launching a few products in the fourth quarter, this year such as Mercury One; Mercury Medical version 6; Contract Trust Administration Version 2.

All Mercury Medical products are offered on-site and in the cloud.

As a question on sustainability, where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

We are here to succeed and make our business a great place to work for and with. We want Mercury Medical in every office. Our software is the best to manage billing and automate process which further increases cash flow by reducing costs and enhancing collection efforts. We hope to have Mercury One fully packaged and classified by markets that have the most potential for growth. We want to hone in on one market at a time and acquire more users.

Our product is ready to revolutionize your practice. Contact us to schedule a free demonstration.

Paul Criswell: A Brief Background

Paul Criswell started his career in 1974 working for the data processing department in a major hospital. He went on to become a Senior Systems Analyst for Datapoint Corporation. Paul was responsible for running the entire corporate computer operations department, including Payroll for 7,000 employees, General Ledger, Accounts Payable, and employee receivables. He went on to work for a leading Systems Analyst, RK Guthrie. During this time, Paul wrote an inventory management system, accounts payable system, with several other key applications. Paul’s work extended into Neural networks and artificial intelligence, which led him into Physiology data analysis with Coach Ward of the Dallas Cowboys. The continuous development required by the healthcare industry keeps Paul’s ardor with Mercury Medical.

“Our software is a proven industry solution, trusted in offices across the nation, and ranked nationally.”