http://newsobserver.com/monday/business/Story/823047p-815388c.html
Published: Monday, September 24, 2001 5:13 a.m. EDT
Wiring doctors
no simple task
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![[PHOTO]](./WiringDocsNoSimpleTask_files/image002.jpg)
By VICKI LEE PARKER
As Dr. Lloyd Hey lay in a
hospital 23 years ago recovering from an accident that nearly cost him his left
leg, he had a revelation. Hey, now an orthopedic spine surgeon at Duke
University Medical Center, envisioned developing a device to improve patient
care and ease a doctor's administrative workload. That vision led Hey in 1995
to found MDeverywhere, a Durham-based maker of software that allows doctors to
collect and process patient information on hand-held personal digital
assistants. There are about 400 doctors using MDeverywhere's system at more
than 30 hospitals, physician practices and clinics. Despite the sluggish
economy, it expects to turn its first profit next year. Connect's Vicki Lee
Parker caught up with Hey between surgeries and running a technology company.
Q: You have said that since
that terrible accident 23 years ago, you had several ideas on how to improve
the health-care industry. When did you decide to create MDeverywhere?
A: The real vision for
MDeverywhere came about 12 years ago. I had already finished medical school and
was doing rotations at Children's Hospital of Boston. I was asked to research
some of the best ways to perform cerebral palsy surgery. I went to hospital
administrators and found out that they didn't have a database with that
information. They told me I would have to sift that information from patients'
bills. That's when I realized there was a big problem in the clinical world.
The administrative world, billing world and the outcome world, where data is
gathered to help improve care over time, were not communicating.
Q: What was your solution?
A: I thought, how can we get
these three worlds to overlap? I realized that right in the middle is a way to
collect information at the point of care, error-proof it, and send it on
seamlessly to areas where that information is needed. It had to start with the
physicians who could capture that information during their patient encounters.
Q: During an interview last
year, you mentioned that MDeverywhere expected to have at least 1,000 doctors
using its system by the end of 2000. Today, you have a little more than 400.
Are you disappointed?
A: You have to be patient.
This [technology] is bringing on a cultural change for doctors. But I am
satisfied and I am encouraged. The doctors who have come online are using it,
and the retention rate is extremely high. Things seem to be accelerating as
doctors are getting their nurse practitioners and physician assistants to use
the product.
Q: What are some of the
features of your main product, EveryCharge?
A: We improve and upgrade
the EveryCharge software every 12 weeks. We survey doctors to find out what
works best for them, then try to include that in our program. Basically,
EveryCharge allows doctors to input diagnoses, treatment procedures, and other
billing and medical information. But our newest feature is digital dictation.
Doctors can actually click on the patient's name, hit "dictation" and
actually talk into the Palm Pilot. It eliminates physicians having to carry a
dictaphone. And it eliminates forgetting to dictate your notes at the end of
the day, because the system will prompt you. A lot of doctors are interested in
that.
Q: Is it now available on
the market?
A: It's only available now
on the pocket personal computer. The Palm version will be coming out this fall.
Q: Can you give me examples
of other upgrades?
A: Yes. We've created a
team-synchronized software, which lets doctors create a team list of people who
have access to the data. So when the doctor synchronizes his Palm Pilot, it
automatically downloads the information to the members of his team such as the
nurse practitioner and the physician assistant.
We've also enhanced the
reporting tools. This lets doctors get graphic printouts of their practice
patterns. For example, it will graph how many patients they saw in a certain
period of time.
Q: What about
prescription-writing software? Have you seen a demand for that?
A: No. The bottom line with
prescriptions is that doctors still prefer to write them out by hand. It is
still the simplest thing to do. We actually had a prescription writer on our
first version, but a majority of the doctors didn't want the hassle.
Q: What hassle?
A: It involved any number
of things, such as checking the prescription against the [the patient's]
pharmacy plan, which requires loading tons of data. It just takes too long.
Q: So what impact has the
technology downturn had on MDeverywhere?
A: Well, a few months ago
we raised $15 million. That has been enough to maintain our overhead expenses.
We still have about 60 employees, and we have had no significant layoffs, and
do not plan to do so. We will continue to run a lean organization, and with the
$15 million we'll basically get to profitability in 2002. I feel very hopeful
right now that more doctors will come online and that will ensure more sales.
Q: What about your competitors
who last year stepped up efforts to sell their own PDAs to doctors?
A: None.
Q: You mean you have no
competition?
A: Right. A lot of them
have gone away since last year. iScribe is on the ropes and a bunch of the tiny
companies are fading because they have been unable to get funding.
Q: What about ePhysician,
ePocrates and WebMD?
A: WebMD is not doing
anything in handheld space. And as for the others, we certainly never hear
about them out on the road as competition.
ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND
MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR
OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING
MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN
IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN
CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.