Local Orthodontist Bites into Dot-Com

After spending years trying to improve both patient care and communication among doctors, a Fayetteville orthodontist has created a dot-com that he says will do both.

About a year ago Dr. Richard D. (Rick) Roblee helped form RxDDS Inc. — a dental portal providing virtual record keeping and the ability for doctors to safely share patient information online at www.rxdds.com. It’s not the first system to create virtual patient records, but Roblee said RxDDS takes the idea to the next level by offering multiple layers of security that allow each doctor to decide how much of a patient’s records he’ll share with other doctors or even the patient.

The investors hope to drill into a dentists’ software market that Gary A. Regula, RxDDS’ CEO, said is $1.9 billion annually. Estimates are that figure will reach $2.6 billion by 2005. But RxDDS’ founders said their product can keep those costs down while offering far better service (See chart).

“This isn’t about going out there to make a lot whole of money,” Roblee said. “This is to improve patient care. It’s the perfect vehicle to help me and my teammates to help our patients.”

Roblee, who partnered with fellow orthodontist Sam Papandreas of Cleveland, Ohio, to launch the company, would not discuss RxDDS’ finances or revenue projections. He did say capitalization came totally from personal investments and not loans.

The licensing fee for becoming a member of the system is $1,900, and there’s a $65 monthly fee for the service. So far the company has signed up about 500 dentists, and there are 170,000 practicing nationwide, Regula said.

In the interim, doctors can sign up for RxDDS just to tap into its study groups for $295 to register and $25 per month.

“That alone is a great asset for the profession,” Roblee said.

He added that there are no software upgrade requirements and little training is needed to use the product. The fee also includes a home page and e-mail for each dental practice.

The system’s high level of security keeps it in compliance with the Heath Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which prohibits most electronic transfers of patient records for privacy reasons.

Not only are several state dental associations promoting and buying into the system, Roblee said it’s also doing well in Australia where dentists and doctors have a lot of distance between them and need easier ways to communicate. Roblee and Papandreas hired Roblee’s brother, Joe Roblee of Austin, Texas, to handle the technical end of setting up the portal. Rick Roblee said there’s also another investor from Fayetteville.

The military is taking note of the system too, Rick Roblee said. He said that makes sense for it because it’s difficult to track patient records for thousands of military personnel around the world.

There are endless possibilities, and the same system could easily be applied to medical doctors, Roblee said.

Passion for care

Regula isn’t surprised that the system was generated out of Northwest Arkansas. The area is home to Roblee, who wrote the first textbook on “Interdisciplinary Dentofacial Therapy” in 1984.

“Rick is the world’s leading authority on IDT,” Regula said. “He wrote the original textbooks. He coined the terms.”

“The entire purpose of the system is to have the collaborative group team effort for patient care and a vehicle to do that,” said Joe Roblee. “That’s the whole design for it and the way it came about.”

Joe Roblee said his brother’s desire to improve patient care led to an idea that has become into a “very very powerful tool” for communication and collaborative efforts by doctors.

Rick Roblee said he has no plans to get rich off of RxDDS, although he would like a return on his investment. For him, the idea came from years of trying to figure out the best ways for doctors to communicate.

He formed a study group 10 years ago that brings dentists together monthly to discuss cases, problems and innovations in the business.

“It’s just a group of professionals trying to help each other and help our patients,” Rick Roblee said.

Worldwide Recognition

Last month, RxDDS won an IBM Beacon Award as the “Best Collaborative Solution” for 2002. The system uses Lotus software to create its standard platform facilitating doctor-to-doctor and doctor-to-patient communication and collaboration. Twelve Beacon Awards worldwide are given out each year.

“It’s wonderful to have validation from a company like IBM of the quality and significance of our application,” Regula said. “This is a super idea that will take the industry by storm.”

Regula is excited about the momentum the company has gained in recent months and believes every dental office in the world could benefit from it. A large pharmaceutical company is also looking at the system and considering adapting it to its needs.

Aline Brunett, clinical coordinator for RxDDS, said the system is a “fantastic platform” that allows the doctors to keep all of their discussions in one common spot. There’s even a free method for any doctor to sign on to simply view relevant patient records.

Brunett used the system to show her father in Illinois what problems her son had that needed to be corrected with braces. He was able to see images of the boy’s mouth and understand what needed to be done.

The program should save patients money too, she said. X-rays are commonly lost or destroyed, but the RxDDS system keeps them safe, avoiding the need for replacement.

Going Paperless

Jan McCormick of Fayetteville, chief training officer for RxDDS, said dentists typically have had their office financial records and scheduling system computerized but still use paper files for patient records. RxDDS doesn’t do away with those systems but complements them, she said.

What many doctors like about it is that there’s no need for them to learn a lot about a software system — this is as easy as navigating simple Web sites, she said.

“I’d say about 85 percent probably don’t know how to schedule an appointment or run any of the software they have in their office,” McCormick said.

Dentists with multiple offices are particularly pleased to learn how the RxDDS system works, she said.

“They can go home and log on and do a lot of the work,” she said. “And there’s no briefcase.”

Having access to information from previous doctors on the shared online patient chart is a big asset for Scott Bolding, a local oral surgeon. Bolding said he’s been so impressed with the system that he hopes to have a paperless office by the end of the year.

“This is totally the future of health care,” Bolding said. “This is a tremendous visionary thing that Rick [Roblee] and Sam [Papandreas] have put together.”

Bolding said RxDDS has taken the Mayo Clinic concept of medical care — with all of the doctors working from the same chart — and enhanced it with Internet capabilities.

He compared the system to that of an airplane log. The airplane log goes with the plane everywhere, keeping maintenance personnel aware of what was done to the plane previously and schedules for maintenance needs, he said.

“With the human body, we’ve never done that, until now,” Bolding said. “I’m real excited about it from a medical and dental perspective. And I’m really excited that it’s coming from here in Northwest Arkansas.”