Mr. Long developed his first managed care systems as Director of Information Systems for PacifiCare, Inc. when it was a start up Health Maintenance Organization. The functionality and sophistication of this system helped facilitate PacifiCare’s growth into a $12 billion a year company.

In 1982, Mr. Long asked for the marketing rights to the managed care system he had developed for PacifiCare. After receiving the marketing rights Mr. Long left PacifiCare to build a company marketing the managed care system. His first client was a Third Party Administrator, J.P. Kennedy & Co. He found that, as excellent as the system was for an HMO, it lacked the flexibility needed for a TPA. He rewrote the system to handle any combination of benefits. In the words of Jim Kennedy (the owner of the TPA), the system he developed ‘was outstanding…. It’s flexibility to handle various benefit plans has been remarkable’. The adjusters considered this system ‘a joy to work with.’ They were ‘pleased by the ease of the system as well as the efficiency, speed, and accuracy with which it has enabled them to work.’

In 1984, PacifiCare was purchased by UniHealth. Unihealth translated the system Mr. Long had developed for PacifiCare to run on an IBM AS/400 computer and then began marketing it as MC400. In 1997 MC400 was acquired by the OAO Corporation. The MC400 system is providing support and processing for more than 7 million lives within a wide range of healthcare organizations including HMOs, PPOs, IPAs, TPAs, medical groups, employer groups, self-funded organizations, and Medicare and Medicaid plans.

Between 1984 and 1995, Mr. Long worked on several two-man teams as a consultant developing mission critical systems for a variety of manufacturing, health care, and retail businesses.

In 1995 Mr. Long began to work for House of Fabrics, a Fabrics and Crafts retailer. While there he developed their back office store systems. These included store requests, store receiving, store pack-a-ways, store special orders, store inventory control; along with a variety of management reports to control store inventory, receiving, and ordering.

In 1998, Jo-Anne Stores, Inc. purchased House of Fabrics. Mr. Long was moved to Ohio by Jo-Anne Stores, Inc. to work on their store back office and POS systems.

In the last three years, Mr. Long has worked with several Third Party Administrators and Managed Care Organizations. This work has shown him there is still room in the health care industry for an excellent, affordable, managed care system.