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By Gail Kelley, Times-Dispatch Writer; (The
Richmond Times-Dispatch, Monday, December 17, 2001)
Call him Dr. Feelgood
Feeling good about the doctor-patient relationship
was so serious a concern for Dr. Kevin W. Fergusson that he prescribed
a different course of action.
After 12 years in a lucrative medical profession, Fergusson left
the family medicine practice to pursue goals as an entrepreneur.
In January 2000, he devoted himself to developing DrPEN, the Doctors'
Patient Education Network, a pocket pamphlet that serves as an educational
resource for patients to find information on the Internet about
their illness or disease.
Worked full time, took courses
"In the early 1990s, I became concerned
with changes that were taking place in the health system," Fergusson
said. "I felt that health information companies didn't really
understand how physicians and patients work together."
While working full time, Fergusson went back to school and graduated
in 1995 with a master's degree in health administration.
Fergusson said that rather than become the medical director of
an insurance company or hospital as do many physicians who enter
the executive program, "I decided I'd start my own company
to try to help the patient-physician relationship."
The DrPEN Directory is a tool to try to strengthen that relationship,
Fergusson said.
In the late 1990s, "there was no way for a physician to refer
a patient to specific information on the Internet, so I came up
with the idea of a booklet that a physician can carry with an organizational
system of codes that insurance companies use to classify disease,"
he said in describing the methodology of DrPEN.
‘Helps to focus information’
At the end of every patient visit the doctor has to write
down the reason for that visit using these codes -- developed by
the World Health Organization -- in order to be paid by the insurance
company, Fergusson said. "So organizing the information by
these codes helps to focus the information in a way that is clinically
relevant to the patient's problem, " Fergusson said.
"When I was practicing medicine, I found that patients often
would go onto the Internet and use a search engine and get 1,000
or more results. They'd get overwhelmed, confused and they'd come
to my office with a folder with reams of information. They were
worried, they were scared, they were frustrated."
Fergusson said patients then would ask him to go through the information
to tell them what was right and what was wrong.
"What they needed was not more information but more focused
information that was relevant to their problem, " Fergusson
said.
Here's how DrPEN works:
"A patient comes in to see the doctor. The
doctor carries the DrPEN Directory in his lab coat pocket. In this
case, the patient has a lump in her breast, so she's concerned, "
he explained.
"She wants to know more about what it is, what it could be.
The doctor looks up in the directory a code for breast lump, which
is 611.72. The doctor writes down on a prescription pad www.drpen.com/611.72
and gives that to the patient.
"The patient can go home or back to work in private and look
up information about 611.72, which happens to be from the National
Institutes of Health, " Fergusson said.
"They go first to our Web site here on Franklin Street, then
to the National Institutes of Health to find the information, "
he said.
Fergusson said DrPEN customers are physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners,
physician assistants and "anyone involved in patient care who
needs to educate the patient. "
Distributed 17,000 booklets
Patients, too, occasionally buy the booklet. "Not
just for themselves, but to share with a friend or family member,
" Fergusson said.
"I think it's wonderful, " said Jeannie Dortch, a teacher
at Rudlin Torah Academy, who said she has used the directory.
"I always have a lot of questions for the doctor. It's good
to feel like you have a reputable source of information without
having to bother the doctor so much. Anytime you think of anything,
it's there to check. "
To get the word out about the directory, Fergusson said in 2000
the company distributed 17,000 booklets across the nation to physicians
offices that had three or more physicians per office. "That
way we knew that if one physician got the book, used it and liked
it, that physician would tell two other people, " Fergusson
said.
"We've gotten positive response. It has been very well-received,"
he said.
"I think very highly of the product, " said Dr. Stephen
Richard. The local family medicine practitioner said he uses the
booklet frequently. "Ten to 15 times a day to refer patients
to information on illnesses and for coding diagnoses" for insurance
purposes.
Fergusson said he looks forward to growth in 2002. Plans for the
new year include moving into an out-of-the-home office. "Right
now I share space with the children's play room," he said.
Additionally, Fergusson said the company in 2002 is planning a
Palm Pilot and pocket PC versions of the DrPEN Directory. "We
also will have a desktop version that physicians can keep on the
computer in their office, " he said.
Further plans call for the development of specialty versions including
cardiovascular, muscular/skeletal and allergy/respiratory editions.
Fergusson feels good about prospects for the future.
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