Jon Keevil, CEO of Madison-based IT startup HealthDecision, says Epic’s new App Orchard is “a huge step toward standardization” in the electronic health records industry.

He spoke to a crowd of a few dozen yesterday as part of Forward Fest, a multi-day string of events and social gatherings in Madison highlighting tech and startup communities.

HealthDecision provides diagnostic decision-making software for a variety of serious medical conditions, and was one of the first companies to join the App Orchard program and go through its app-vetting process. Epic’s new platform, which went live in March, features apps from third-party developers that conform to certain standards for intercommunication.

“The cool thing we’ve experienced first-hand is that the business models are now aligned,” Keevil said. “The Epic mechanism is going to have a portion from the proceeds from our relationship with customers, and they’re going to be tremendously helpful in that relationship with customers.”

Keevil worked in heart medicine for 16 years as part of UW Hospital and Clinics. He left last year to put all his time into growing the company.

When originally building out the diagnostic tools the company now uses, Keevil says he wasn’t envisioning a marketable business model. Read the full story here.