Innovator of the Year profile: Norman-based OnlineMedsource.org

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Apr 6, 2007

While serving as the caregiver of her elderly father for the last decade of his life, Agi Lurtz spent countless hours filling out medical forms on his behalf. It was the same story hundreds of people face - completing the same information over and over again at each physician's office, emergency facility and hospital

It was this scenario that inspired the idea for her latest business venture -- OnlineMedsource.org Inc.

The Web-based medical history and record service is designed to help patients save time while assisting health care providers to save time and reduce overhead expenses, thus increasing their bottom line.

"The savings in paper, copying and faxing and other related costs may run into the tens of thousands of dollars," Lurtz said.

"While being Web-based is not unique in and of itself, our system includes features found in no other service," she said. "First, we adapt each member's paper documents (i.e., registration, insurance, HIPAA, pre- and post-operative instructions, internal information and so forth) into an elective interactive format available on our secure server. Second, every entry and access is permanent and traceable as to who made the entry and when the entry was made.

"Third, emergency medical technicians can access a member- patients' medical information only by using a member-specific personal identification code when seconds count and a life may hang in the balance.

Other benefits of the system include efficient and more complete communication between patient and physician as well as its interoperability.

"When a patient is referred to a specialist for laboratory or other diagnostic exams or admitted to the hospital, the physician can issue the orders and receive results electronically using the system," she said. "Often, this sharing of information may eliminate the need for multiple tests, saving the patient inconvenience of multiple appointments and much time not spent filling out frustratingly redundant forms."

Norman-based OnlineMedsource.org's members include independent physician practices, multiple physician surgical practices, therapeutic and diagnostic services. Patient users of the system span generations from 18 to 91 years of age.

The interconnectivity of the OnlineMedsource system makes future application opportunities almost limitless, Lurtz said. The company has begun test marketing to drug and alcohol treatment facilities, schools and day-care centers, among others. Medical research and forecasting are other future uses of the system. As the database grows to include a larger population, the combinations of illnesses, systems, and demographics, to name a few, may be quantified in such a way as to identify common characteristics of a specific illness across an entire continent.

Lurtz, a University of Oklahoma graduate, started and operated six different and successful businesses before launching OnlineMedsource.org in 2003. After entering the information technology market in 1982, Lurtz founded Compute This!! in 1991 and Esotech Internet in 1999.