Steve Malik is a visionary entrepreneur with over three decades of health information technology experience as a pioneer in patient-centric mobile apps, patient portals, electronic health records, risk-based managed-care systems and currently with a focus on health data as a service. He is the CEO of Greenlight Health Data Solutions, a spin-out from Medfusion upon selling the firm he founded to NextGen in 2019.
Previously, Steve sold Medfusion to Intuit, where he was a Senior Vice President and President of the Intuit Health Group, before re-acquiring the company in 2013. For much of his career, he has focused on improving the relationship between physicians and their patients by making communication and the ability to accomplish key tasks better, easier, and more efficient.
Steve is also chairman and owner of the North Carolina Football Club and the NC Courage, multi-time champions of the National Women’s Soccer League. Malik earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he serves on the Board of Visitors, and multiple other boards involved with athletics, the business of healthcare and entrepreneurship.
- What is in your pockets
I’ll tell you what’s in my backpack because my backpack has what used to be in my pockets. I have three notebooks, one for each of my big opportunities; my laptop; and what I need to be remote. I travel light.
- What exciting thing has happened recently for you or your organization?
Greenlight is a company that we spun out of Medfusion before selling it to NextGen, that essentially allows people who want to answer your first question and have their health records in their pocket. So, you can go to virtually any doctor—whether it’s a specialist, primary care, elder care, you name it—and consolidate all of your records, so you have control of the lab results and medications, etc. People have found all kinds of very interesting ways to empower themselves when they have control over their data. It’s a portal of portals, so that you don’t have to remember five to 10 different logins and sign-ins. And frankly, the communication between specialists and the primary care is broken.
The pandemic has been so hard for everyone and yet in the healthcare space, data as a service has risen in importance with everything that has happened. Some of the traditional ways that people have needed health records that may have been paper have certainly seen the benefit of a digital solution. The transformation that’s going on in our country around AI/machine learning and getting really smart about using data to do a number of things, including provide better care and getting better outcomes, is a revolution that I’m thrilled to be in the middle of.
- What is your favorite coffee spot?
I don’t drink coffee and I don’t do coffee with people. I overdo my caffeine intake with Coke Zero. I’ve also been drinking Virgil’s Colas. They’re no sugar, no sweetener and no caffeine—and they’re awesome.
- What keeps you up at night?
Well, I used to famously say that nothing keeps me up at night. I actually wear myself out, is what I do. So, if there was something that was going to be bothering me, by the time I’ve laid my head down, I’ve done everything I can do about it. And I sleep well.
When you look at what’s happened to our world in the last two years, this pandemic has massively affected us. And it’s happened at the same time as a massive social awakening.
And I do think that as a country and as the world comes out of this, that there are opportunities for us to get better. And how we get better is what is taking a lot of my energy. It’s not keeping me up at night. I’m doing everything that I can, but I do think we need to be more respectful to everyone. And with some of these diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, how you go about implementing them. And how we go about dealing with some of the problems that are systemic in our society and challenging. But we all need to be leaders in that regard and create a better world for people.
- What is your favorite restaurant or happy hour?
I found new pleasures in eating outdoors. I’ll give a shout-out to Capital Grille. They’ve done some nice things outside, and they certainly have a very high customer-service commitment.
- What is next for you or your organization?
What’s next for me is building out the organization. We’ve been hiring a lot and during the pandemic we went entirely virtual. While we prefer to hire in the Triangle, we’re hiring all over the world and for a small company, that’s something new for me. I was very committed to the culture that you create when you’re in the office. I always think in my business, 85% of your spend is your employees and you better get that right. It’s the most important piece. I am working really hard on getting the culture, expectations, and outcomes refined for a virtual world. It’s harder. You have to mindfully think about it, as opposed to showing up. I used to say that old thing, “Showing up’s 80% of success.”
I think being present in this virtual world and creating a culture that captures the best of being virtual, while still being badass and accomplishing what you need to on a business side is the big challenge that’s in front of us, as we’re a growing organization. That’s my big business thing that I’m paying a lot of attention to. And if anybody out there has any great suggestions, I’m all ears. There are a few things we’re doing well, but I think that’s also a journey.
