Web site helps docs explain procedures

When Darik Volpa was a fresh-faced young salesman calling on orthopedic surgeons, he was frustrated that he couldn't find any easy-to-understand tutorials about his clients' work.

The material either was so sophisticated that it required a medical degree or so simple that it was worthless.

From that frustration, Volpa created a Renobased business UnderstandSurgery.com LLC and the company expects that by early next year its staff of five will finish relocating to northern Nevada from the San Francisco Bay area.

UnderstandSurgery.com provides a Web site to surgeons that shows patients a step-by-step illustration of the orthopedic surgery they're about to undergo.

The educational pieces combine animation with videotape in fact, that combination is one of the patented techniques used by UnderstandSurgery.com and their introductory screens are customized with information about the surgeons themselves.

Patients either watch the presentations on the Web site from their home computer or watch it in the surgeon's office.

Surgeons pay $50 to $80 a month for the Web-based service or pay $495 for a CD that can be shown in their office.

(The company has invested heavily in technology to prevent copying of the CDs).

By the end of 2004, Volpa expects his firm will have 1,000 surgeons signed up.

The privately held company's heavy start-up expenses creation of the educational programs, advertising in professional journals targeted to orthopedic surgeons have been funded by Volpa and his partner, the owner of a multi-media firm from the Bay area.

While it's invested heavily in the product, UnderstandSurgery.com has kept a tight fist on other expenses.

Only in the fast few weeks, for instance, has Volpa begun shopping for office space after months of working from a home office.

And the tight control of costs is reflected in the company's decision to be based in Reno.

Nevada's low-tax environment, Volpa said, gives more breathing room and a competitive edge to his start-up company.

A graduate of Fresno State who spent nine years working for Stryker Corp., a big medical products company, Volpa saw first-hand the problems that many surgeons have in discussions with their patients.

"They either don't have the talent to do it or they don't have the time," he said.

Volpa's flash of inspiration came at 33,000 feet during a flight from Boston, where he was based, to San Jose.

By the time the plane landed, he'd sketched out a business plan and prepared himself to make a call to his soon-to-be partner in the media business.

"The entrepreneurial itch was too much," he said.

The product rolled out just over six weeks ago, and Volpa said he's been surprised at the strong reaction from foreign markets Venezuela, the United Kingdom and India, for example.

At the same time, he's learned it's not easy to get a quick purchasing decision from methodical, busy orthopedic surgeons.

If all goes well, the company will expand from its first products detailing orthopedic procedures into other types of surgery as well.