When people are sick, one of the last things they want to do is fill out yet another clipboard of paperwork at the doctor’s office.

Appointment Launch, a Wichita company that was an early adopter at Groover Labs, is looking to help solve that problem and ultimately, give health care providers more time with their patients. The company’s web-based app — about two years in the making from concept to reality — launched this past week.

“We are an appointment workflow software solution for patients and health care providers,” explained co-founder Chad Cox. “Right now, the time that a provider gets to spend with a patient has been getting smaller and smaller. We want to extend how much time they have with their provider by giving patients the opportunity to provide information before an appointment.”

One of the inspirations for Appointment Launch was the uphill battle his father experienced while in treatment for cancer. Paperwork was never-ending, Cox said. His father died about a year-and-a-half ago. Cox and his brother, an optometrist, started Appointment Launch together.

“The place where I get my haircut has better technology than a lot of health care providers,” Cox said. “My dad went to MD Anderson in Houston. There was an iPad check-in system, which was great. But it all stayed right there. Even sometimes when he went to another provider in the same building, he’d have to fill out new paperwork.”

Appointment Launch “starts with an appointment reminder. From there, the patient can click on a link and start to work on paperwork as well as give pertinent information about their appointment and really anything their provider would like to know about their health,” Cox said.

The idea is to make that information available well before an appointment so the patient — and her or his physician — doesn’t spend as much face-to-face time dealing with paperwork.

“We integrate directly into the back office system,” Cox said. “A lot of this information will flow straight into their chart. We store this information for the patient so the patient can use the information for other providers.”

Appointment Launch allows patients to input health and family history, known allergies, medications, insurance information and emergency contacts. Patients can update information when necessary.

The software keeps track of all providers, and a family can have one account for all members.

Appointment Launch, where a third employee works as a developer, went live last week when it loaded about 17,000 appointments for about 6,000 patients.

“We have real-live patients on the system this week,” Cox said Friday. “That was at my brother’s office. He’s kind of our guinea pig. Another client will go live on March 6.”

Providers also will be able to use Appointment Launch to send patients information about health problems.

“It’s basically a patient portal on steroids,” Cox said.