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Ice cream and computers: a match that
works
Borrowing a concept works for development
of medical records storage system
When
Burton Ulrich and Dr. Dennis Ulrich got serious about developing their "paperless
medical office" computer program into a business, Dippin' Dots founder
Curt Jones encouraged the cousins to look hard at Paducah's regional medical
center as a base.
Dennis
Ulrich, a family practioner in Laurel County in eastern Kentucky, had grown
up with Jones in Grand Chain, Ill. A microbiologist who turned science
into commerce, Jones was fascinated that Ulrich had teamed with Burton Ulrich,
a Paducah computer programmer, to turn cumbersome medical office charts into
the streamlined flow and convenience of a laptop computer.
"I
say it's sort of what Curt did with ice cream," Dennis Ulrich said. "We've
changed its form."
Jones
became a shareholder and director of Ulrich Medical Concepts, which has installed
systems in the offices of five local doctors since opening in November in
the Paducah Information Age Park Resource Center. Three more physicians
and six physical therapists will be trained and have programs in place by
summer.
"They
wanted me to try to help expand the company," Jones said. "Because
Paducah is a regional medical center, I thought this was an ideal place to
be."
Although
computers are common in most businesses, medical offices have been slow to
advance from paper charts that carry all kinds of information and are very
mobile, Ulrich said. "Finding a chart is a major chore for office
employees."
Medical
office flow software is not new, but the Ulriches and their other partner
- Sandra Allen, a Laurel County certified medical assistant who managed Ulrich's
medical practice for 16 years - think they have some novel additions.
While
seeing a patient, a doctor is able to use a computer screen to determine
costs and insurance coverage for medical procedures. Ulrich said that
is increasingly important as expenses increase, insurance companies put billing
under tighter scrutiny and patients grow more educated.
"Being
aware of where you are in the process is very important to the patient," he
said. "Patients are not as passive as they once were. They're
often well-educated and expect more."
Ulrich
said the system will become more important as insurers and Medicare hold
doctors accountable for patient improvement. "Doctors are going
to be expected to produce that kind of information, and that's why more and
more of them are going out of business."
The
system also factors certain values such as blood pressure, age and sex, and
combines them with such special medical problems as diabetes, to calculate
risk based on guidelines from various medical organizations. Some doctors
consider the guidelines a threat to their individuality; most use them to
help streamline practices burdened with business work, Ulrich said.
Paducah's
growing medical community was "no small consideration" to opening
the business here instead of elsewhere in Kentucky, Ulrich said. Lourdes
and Western Baptist hospitals employ more than 3,000 people and medical complexes
have developed across town.
But
just as big a factor was that Burton Ulrich, who designs and tweaks the programs,
lives here while Dennis Ulrich lives and works in Laurel County.
"Burton
was spending all his time on the road getting to my office," Ulrich
said. "If you want to make things convenient for your company,
you make it convenient for your programmer."
By Joe Walker, Paducah Sun Business Editor.
Copyright (c) 2002, The Paducah Sun.
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News:
Ice Cream and Computers
