How's this for a three pack of charts assembled by our friends at the Huffington Post?

When Epic River began planning the build out of the company's new office space at the Rocky Mountain Center of Innovation and Technology, one of the recurring themes was to make the space innovative to mirror the cutting-edge software that has become Epic River's trademark. Teaming with the locally owned and operated Mac Electric Company, the two entities began to share the same vision for an energy efficient lighting system.

When Epic River set out to streamline the medical financing process and provide affordable loans, we knew that we were changing the landscape of medical financing. But hearing from customers like Melissa Grovijohn of Pinnacle Bank reminds us of the daily effect the innovative and easy-to-use software is having in the marketplace. The impact is felt so much that Melissa was compelled to contact us.

In a recent Wired magazine article, "Gadgets Like Fitbit Are Remaking How Doctors Treat You," I was reminded of the quote from the TV show House. The lead character in the show, Dr. Gregory House, M.D., is portrayed as a genius of diagnostic medicine who frequently quips, "Everybody lies." He is generally referring to patients who are being asked difficult personal questions, but the Wired article caused me to consider if that was true about patients in general. For example, do patients listen when a doctor prescribes rest? Does the patient know if they're lying? Is one man's "rest" the same as another? Could activity trackers and heart rate monitors really provide accurate data to the doctors? Could this data be reviewed by the doctor and eliminate follow-up appointments? Does the combination of a sensor-laden super-computer in our pocket and an activity tracker on our wrist allow us to provide real information to our doctors?

I had a conversation with a local medical provider this morning, and after we talked I was more sure than ever that if you're a community bank or a regional bank, the community or communities you serve need your help. Please.

Expanding your footprint into a new market area can be tricky to say the least. Jumping off takes some very fuzzy math and guesswork. We have recently learned from a customer that MyLoans™ Patient Financing can actually take a lot of the guesswork out of opening a new branch and improve the odds of success.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been slowly but sure dominating the cloud hosting world. Today MyLoans™ Healthcare Financing team is proud to announce it now fully supports AWS deployments. Utilizing the Relational Database Service (RDS), Simple Storage Service (S3) and Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) MyLoans can now be deployed in seconds with no capital outlay for hardware and an infinite ability to support your MyLoans roll out. Amazon's successful execution and audit of nearly every major assurance program has enabled us to provide a cloud delivery option to our financial institution customers while meeting their stringent compliance requirements.

Seriously. I think John Oliver and Sarah Silverman said it best when they said, "Do. Literally. Anything else."

Harvard Business Review article postulated that lending technology could play a significant role in reviving America's small businesses. It's a captivating read. They pull out some fascinating numbers like these charts to show just how hard hit small businesses were and how long the road to recovery can be. As a founder of Epic River, I can relate. The cash flow concerns of small businesses can be crippling. When you put those concerns together with an economy struggling to hold it together, you see why HBR thinks technology aimed at improved access to loans for small businesses could really make an impact on the economy of the entire country.

The more I read about the mess that is healthcare and medical accounts receivables, the more I realize it is going to take a long time before it gets sorted out. That leaves millions of Americans and thousands of doctors offices and hospitals with a serious problem; the economy seems to be getting better, but people are requiring more and more medical care. So people have less disposable income and higher deductible medical insurance plans. Therefore, health savings accounts are becoming more prevalent as the population is getting older and in more need of medical care. This is a perfect storm for creating an unmanageable medical accounts receivables balance. Though the federal government is stepping in, the full impact of that will not be felt for years to come. That leaves a huge gap between the health care that people need right now and their ability to pay for it. Time magazine dedicated their March 12th issue to the problem of ever-increasing health care. The part that struck me was discussion around the size and scope of healthcare spending. The things that stood out the most to me were: $2.8 trillion in health care spending this year. TRILLION. In 2013. Just one year. 69% of those who claimed medical bankruptcy had insurance at the time. Having insurance no longer means you don't have enormous medical bills. Healthcare spending is nearly five times the gross domestic product.