SANACARE MEETS PATIENTS’ NEEDS AND FDA REQUIREMENTS WITH THE AID OF FISHBOWL
SanaCare is an international distributor of medical products. They sell everything from disposable items to certified medical devices to hospitals and doctors across North and South America and the Caribbean. They’ve managed to build this impressive network in just a few decades. President & CEO Frank Maresma says, “I founded the company in 1995. It was a big risk because I was 12 years into my career, in my eyes at a high-level position.” Mike Maresma, SanaCare’s General Manager, gives an additional insight into the company’s humble beginning, noting, “Frank started the business literally in my parents’ garage.”
The risk Frank Maresma took paid off in a big way. SanaCare has expanded far beyond its original location and product line. According to Regional Sales Manager Chris Carvajal, “The bulk of our business up until this point has always been durable medical goods and disposal medical goods. Those involve everything from gowns to bouffant caps – pretty much everything that you would find in an operating room.” And it’s not all dollars and cents when it comes to deciding how best to serve their customers and patients. Lizbet Gonzalez, the company’s Clinical Specialist, explains, “We always try to put ourselves in our patients’ shoes. We aren’t concerned with prices; we are always looking to help the patient with healing. It gets faster and more effective with each patient. Because of this, I enjoy it very much.”
Business Challenges & Needs
When the company started, inventory management software was in its infancy. As his company grew, Frank Maresma knew that he needed something more advanced to meet the complexity of his operations. He says, “It’s a company that has evolved over time. Computers were around back then, but I didn’t have any software, I didn’t have any programs to manage the inventory. It took me several years before getting into any type of database, any type of software.”
Chris Carvajal adds that there are specific FDA requirements that the company needed to meet in order to stay within the law and maintain good customer relations, “So, being medical device goods, in general, the industry is overseen by the FDA, and one of the biggest challenges is it’s vital to ensure the traceability of those products throughout the lifecycle, meaning from the reps’ inventory all the way to the patient. All of that product information (we need a lot number and serial number) needs to be captured and inputted onto the patient’s record.”
The Solution
Once they made the decision to implement an inventory management solution, they quickly found Fishbowl, which changed many aspects of how they did business and helped them to grow. Chris Carvajal notes, “Since I’ve started at SanaCare, the company has grown tremendously. We’ve made improvements, one of them being implementing Fishbowl.”
The Results
One of the most important ways Fishbowl has helped the company is by automating previously manual processes. For example, Chris Carvajal describes how the company used to record inventory transactions, “The gentlemen out in the warehouse, when they receive a shipment in, they are manually capturing all of that information, meaning writing it down and then manually inputting it into Fishbowl. With the implementation of the new scanning system, we’re able to capture all that information directly from barcodes, thus eliminating a lot of potential for human error.” Fishbowl Go is the app that they use to scan barcodes and enter product information directly into the main Fishbowl software.
In addition, Fishbowl’s seamless integration with QuickBooks has been a big asset to the company’s accounting department, eliminating the need for double data entry. Michelle Maresma, Account Executive, says, “Whatever is entered into Fishbowl feeds exactly how I need it to be fed into QuickBooks. And it’s the click of a button.”
Learning a new software solution is always a challenge, which is why Fishbowl devotes so many resources to helping organizations like SanaCare get started and keep everything up and running. Chris Carvajal declares, “I feel very strongly about Fishbowl’s customer service. I have never been in an instance where I’ve never been provided with answers whenever I wanted them. I can simply bring up Fishbowl and I’ll speak with somebody within five minutes at most, and they’ll walk me through whatever I need to get done and ensure that I’m happy with the results.” Mike Maresma agrees, adding, “Fishbowl has been a blessing for our company. Fishbowl Support is second to none.”
More than anything, Fishbowl wants to help its customers be successful in their business. As Frank Maresma puts it, “Fishbowl has been there for every step of the way from implementation to day-in-and-day-out questions that the team may have. They’re a phone call away. They’re there for us; they want us to succeed.”
Visit https://sanacare.com/ for all your medical-supply needs. You can also watch a video case study of SanaCare.
Fishbowl is the No. 1 requested manufacturing and warehouse management solution for QuickBooks, and it is also a popular standalone solution for organizations or enterprises looking to track assets. For QuickBooks and Xero users, it provides the same advanced features and flexibility larger organizations enjoy, but at a fraction of the cost.
