Maplewood Software Inc., of Spokane, says it has sold the rights to its ScheduleRx software, which is used by hospital pharmacies nationwide, and that its launching other health care-related staff scheduling applications it has developed.


The company sold ScheduleRx, which was its first Web-based, worker scheduling software designed specifically for the health-care industry, late last month to Bellevue, Wash.-based Pharmacy OneSource Inc., says Nancy Janzen, CEO of Maplewood. Pharmacy OneSource also has an office in Madison, Wis. The acquisition included a license to the software code and ScheduleRxs pharmacy customer base. Janzen declines to disclose the dollar value of the transaction, except to say that it was in the seven figures.


Under the agreement, Pharmacy OneSource bought the exclusive rights to use or sell ScheduleRx, but Maplewood will assist with ongoing software development and some joint sales opportunities for that product, Janzen says. Maplewood decided to sell the rights to ScheduleRx, which was its main software product, because Pharmacy OneSource has other related application service provider products and works with more than 1,000 pharmacy customers nationwide, Janzen says. An application service provider (ASP) product resides in the software providers server, which customers can access via the Internet, rather than being installed on users computer desktops.


Pharmacy OneSource has a deep market share, and it has the ability to quickly grow and sell ScheduleRx, Janzen says.


The ScheduleRx application compiles information about employees, such as skill levels and vacation preferences, as well as data about specific jobs, then uses it to generate a schedule, she says. ScheduleRx cuts down on the time and paperwork that worker scheduling typically requires, and employees can access it via the Internet to submit vacation requests or to view shift schedules, Janzen says. Customers pay an annual fee to use the software.


Maplewood, which previously developed other work-flow management applications used by businesses here, decided in 2004 to focus solely on the pharmaceutical industry after Spokane-based Sacred Heart Medical Center asked the company to develop a scheduling product for its pharmacy department. While Maplewood marketed ScheduleRx only to hospital-based pharmacies, Pharmacy OneSource plans to market it to pharmaceutical consulting companies and retail pharmacies as well, Janzen says.


Meanwhile, Maplewood is launching three separate software applications, ScheduleLabs, ScheduleRad, and ScheduleRn, which are similar to ScheduleRx, but focus on the specific scheduling needs of hospital laboratories, radiology departments, and registered nurses, she says. The company is working with Spokane-based Empire Health Services and Seattle-based Providence Health & Services to get feedback about those products, and expects to start selling them nationally in the next three months, she says.


Maplewood hopes to develop staff scheduling software applications for other hospital departments and also medical clinics, Janzen says. It also is looking at developing applications for other industries besides health care, but she declines for now to disclose further details.


Maplewood is working with the Spokane Intercollegiate Research & Technology Institute to hone its marketing strategies, Janzen says. It is doing its own marketing for the new products, and already has received quite a bit of interest in them, she says. About 95 percent of the companys customers for ScheduleRx were based outside the Spokane area, and she expects that most of the customers for the companys three new products also will be based elsewhere.


Maplewood plans, though, to stay in Spokane, Janzen says. It moved in March to a roughly 3,000-square-foot leased space on the ninth floor of the Molina Building on the lower South Hill, at 508 W. Sixth. Previously, it leased about 1,500 square feet of space in the Holley Mason Building downtown. Being based in Spokane has proven to be an advantage for the company in terms of its health care-related work, because of Spokanes reputation as a regional health-care hub, she says.


The company has 12 employees and probably will hire more in late summer or early fall, primarily in management or sales and support positions for its new products, she says. Janzen declines to disclose Maplewoods revenues, but says the company is profitable.


Profitability has been elusive for many companies in the software industry, especially since the dot-com bust that occurred several years ago, she says. During that time, when many dot-com companies dissolved, Maplewood cut its employees down to four, two of whom were Janzen and her husband, John Janzen, who is president of the company. Since then, the industry as a whole has started recovering, and Maplewood has hired more employees and increased its revenues.


Janzen says shes optimistic about where the software industry is headed.


Were proud of the fact that we made it through the bust and are successful and profitable, she says. The (Pharmacy OneSource) acquisition was very validating of how we do business as well as the value of our technology.


The Janzens are Spokane natives, who returned here in 1995 after living in the Puget Sound and Portland areas. They formed Maplewood in 1996, and the companys clients have included Johns Hopkins University, Childrens Hospital of Seattle, Group Health Northwest, and Microsoft Corp.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at [email protected].