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Marvin Cadwell was shocked when he opened the hospital bill. How, he wondered, could an accounting student afford to pay for the care his sick wife needed?
With no trust fund or stuffed bank account in sight, Cadwell decided to pay the debt in labor. He dropped out of the University of Michigan and went to work for Providence Hospital as a staff accountant by day, attending school at night. Cadwell has been in hospitals ever since. But not visiting. Working.
His wife, Bonnie, is fine now, and they have three full-grown daughters. Cadwell says the most important thing he has taught them is to stick with a project once they have begun it.
Today, as director, president and chief executive of Malvern, Pa.-based VAR Shared Medical Systems Corp., Cadwell has done just that, having spent probably as much time in hospitals as many doctors and nurses. His company, which generated revenue of $650.6 million in 1995, is projected to reach sales of approximately $750 million this year through its technology and service offerings, according to Lanny Thorndike, a health-care analyst at William Blair & Co., Chicago.
With his accounting background, Cadwell is comfortable with numbers, profit and loss statements, and projections. But he first became involved in technology in 1966 when Providence Hospital began automating its administrative and accounting procedures. The hospital chose IBM Corp. to install its new system and identify hospital staffers who had technical aptitude. Cadwell made the cut, put his ledger aside and became director of information systems at Providence.
That blend of technical know-how and medical business expertise has proven invaluable over Cadwell's long career. He was regional manager for the eastern United States with the...