Re-imagining Every Aspect of the Medical Lab Business: Mako Medical Laboratories, a High Complexity Laboratory, Strives for Innovation Every Day

“We serve as an industry leader on how laboratories should truly support patients and healthcare professionals” - Chad Price

Cloud computing is changing the way healthcare providers – doctors, clinics and hospitals – deliver quality, affordable services to their patients. Driven by the demands to cut costs while improving the quality of care, providers look to the cloud as a way to reduce operational expense, while providing more transparent, more comprehensive services to patients.

On the business side, providers struggle to contain rising infrastructure, administrative and pharmaceutical costs. At the same time, they face stringent government demands to improve the quality of healthcare and provide common standards in the industry.

On the patient side, providers must satisfy the demand for instant, top-quality access to healthcare services. Patients – who are accustomed to the 24/7 availability and service from online retailers and financial institutions – expect and even demand such access and services from their healthcare providers. With immediate access to web-based medical information, patients gravitate to the web to self-diagnose, often approaching their healthcare provider with pre-conceived ideas of treatments.

Mako Medical Laboratories – a high complexity laboratory that performs diagnostic testing for hospitals, physicians, and urgent care facilities across the US – is poised to address these concerns on both the provider and patient side. The company has achieved distinction for its state-of-the-art facilities, use of robotics, innovative cloud/app technology, and proprietary method development.

Mako’s team is comprised of nationally renowned doctors and PhD’s with extensive experience in method development. The company has pioneered efficient and cost-effective solutions for health care professionals around the country. Mako has committed to exclusively hiring U.S. Military Veterans to operate its logistics fleet and has committed life-saving instrumentation to countries in need. The company also supports overseas missionaries, partners with local community colleges, and supports more than 300 charities.

The company, established in 2014, is headquartered in North Carolina with offices in Georgia, South Carolina, West Virginia, Ohio, New Mexico and Kentucky.

Proud Achievements

In 2017, Mako Medical Laboratories was recognized as the #1 Fastest-Growing Company for the second year in a row at the Triangle Business Journal’s Fast 50 awards ceremony. No other company in the history of the event had ever won in back-to-back years.

The Triangle Business Journal also named Mako one of the Best Places to Work in the Research Triangle for 2017. Winners were chosen based on an employee-survey conducted by Quantum Workplace.

Most recently Mako Medical Laboratories was named a recipient of the 2018 Life Sciences Award which recognizes organizations that are breaking ground in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, clinical research, human health, medical devices and diagnostics.

Interview Excerpt: Chad Price, Founder/President

What inspired you to start a medical laboratory? And how did you expand your company and its offerings over the years?

Mako Medical Laboratories was created for two reasons: The first was to fill a current void in the healthcare space. The lab industry is dominated by two giants and the market was hungry for a third option. The second reason was to make an impact in the local markets through social responsibility and outreach. Mako is privately held which allows the company to use a significant portion of its profits to support local charities, non-profits, military programs, and missionaries overseas. Today, we support more than 300 non-profits and charities, we only hire Military Veterans for our logistics team, we’ve donated more than $26M dollars to charitable organizations, and we support more than 70 missionaries around the world. Mako’s mascot, Mikey  the Mako, is a regular visitor at local children’s hospitals – he entertains the kids and brings a little light into what is sometimes a scary experience for them. Making an impact is the driving force behind everything we do.

What kind of responses have you received from your customers over the years? How have they motivated you to shape your offerings and grow the company?

Feedback is extremely important for us. We use mobile messaging to engage all our customers and patients. We meet as a team every month to look for ways to remove steps out of our processes and improve efficiency. We build systems that are customer friendly and simple to use. We have real people answering the phones and empower the entire team to make decisions without having to check with anyone or put customers on hold. It’s the small details that impact the customer experience. We train our team to focus on these details. The market changes fast so we require our leadership team to spend time at the ground level to get the customer’s perspective and viewpoint. Our sales team also plays a vital role in guiding our direction as we introduce new products or make adjustments in our service.

Two-way communication is important, and employees need to feel they have an outlet for sharing their observations and ideas. How do you accomplish that at Mako?

Our office culture is innovative and energetic, and our teams strive for selflessness. Everyone rolls up their sleeves to help co-workers when needed, regardless of their titles, and communication is constant. We look for employees who share a similar sense of passion and purpose. It’s imperative to surround yourself with great teams. One of the most important pieces of advice I can provide to other entrepreneurs is to surround yourself with a passionate group of talented people who aren’t afraid to argue their opinions. By checking your own ego at the front door and fostering that in your company culture, you will ultimately make better and more informed decisions.

To what do you credit your company’s sterling reputation?

A powerful, distinctive brand, and the fact  Mako Medical Laboratories is known for making impacts both locally and internationally. We use our profits to support charities and non-profits, we partner with programs for children, the disabled, and the military. We work with community colleges and local schools. We are truly passionate about making an impact in someone’s life – every day. After donating thousands of hours, millions of dollars, and helping so many – we feel we represent that little bit of hope for so many that are struggling. It’s not what we do; it’s why we do it.

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

Looking ahead a few years, ideally Mako has over 1000 employees, clears over a billion dollars in revenue, and is converting that revenue into over 2,500 different charities and new non-profit programs across the country. We would also like to support 500 missionaries around the world

with 50 percent of our work force being Military Veterans. It is a dream that inspires us to work a bit  harder each and every day.

The Man Behind The Operation: A Brief Background

Chad Price: Prior to Mako, Chad founded RT1 – one of the nation’s largest disaster cleanup companies, and Element Service Group. Also, he was the lead investor in a fintech startup called Trill A.I.

Mr. Price has served as policy director for many members of the House and Senate and was Chief of Staff for Chief Justice Mark Martin.

"We have worked really hard to create an amazing culture and environment for our team."