Skylight’s GetWellTV is demonstrated to a patient.

Two basic ways to build a company with technology are to invent/own something that is proprietary or take existing products and mold them into a service that piques a customer’s interest. Taking the latter approach is Skylight Systems, which blends existing technologies into an entertainment and information network for hospital patients that uses the in-room televisions as the display terminals.

Headed by David J. Schofield and the idea of former hospital executive Melissa Hayden-Cook, Skylight’s GetWellTV service is now being rolled out in hospitals. Using a custom remote and speakers at the head of the bed, patients can e-mail, watch premium movies, order food and watch instructional videos related to their condition and post-hospital care. In-house uses for the system include staff training and patient surveys.

“Hospitals are very focused on patient satisfaction,” says Schofield, who arrived in April 2001 as a former CEO of eDiets.com and before that Rexall Showcase International. “If you can add a tool like GetWellTV that provides empowerment to patients and staff, it is a much better environment.”

When contracted for a system, Skylight absorbs the upfront capital expenses, installing a new ethernet network and server that provides the GetWellTV background. It also maintains and manages the network.

Skylight earns revenue by charging a daily fee for installed beds and works with hospitals on upgraded entertainment offerings. Hospitals decide which of the services offered to patients are fee-based.

Health-education videos have proven particularly popular. Typically a nurse brings a cart carrying a VCR and monitor to a patient’s room. The downside, says Schofield, is that the patent’s family or those who are assisting in the care might not be present when the video is played. With GetWellTV, the patient can call up the video for playback when the appropriate caregivers are in the room.

While wireless keyboards are available, Skylight has found patients prefer the familiarity of a customized television remote control.

When Sharp Grossmont starts offering GetWellTV to patients next month, the system will be in 13 hospitals and about 3,200 beds under contract with about 2,700 installed.

Skylights uses Ernst & Young for accounting services and, for legal services, recently from Cooley Godward in San Diego to Stradling, Youcca Carlson & Rauth in Newport Beach.

The 4 1/2-year-old company is not yet profitable. Schofield says the health care market takes time. The company’s five main investors, who have contributed $17 million over three rounds, are patient industry veterans. Some investors wanting a quicker return have been turned down, he says. Schofield expects the funds available to be sufficient. “I don’t think we are going to have to raise any more money,” he says.

Based in Del Mar Heights, Skylight has 30 employees. Schofield says its future is either in being acquired by a larger health care company or going public. That decision is four or five years out, he says, and will depend on valuations at that time.

— Tim McClain