--- title: "Electronic Medical Records Finally Become a Reality, Thanks to the iPad" date: 2012-07-31 author: "Richard MacManus" categories: - name: "ReadWriteWeb" url: "/category/readwriteweb.md" tags: - name: "2012" url: "/tag/2012.md" --- # Electronic Medical Records Finally Become a Reality, Thanks to the iPad ![](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019im_/http://www.readwriteweb.com/files/styles/610_0/public/fields/doctor_ipad_aug12.jpg) Digital health is a hot market right now, with funding levels having [tripled over the past year](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/investment-in-digital-health-triples-over-past-year.php). Y Combinator graduate [drchrono](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/https://drchrono.com/) is one of many scrappy young startups aiming to change the stodgy old healthcare system. Indeed, drchrono strikes at one of the core problems of traditional healthcare: **paperwork**. Drchrono is an EMR (Electronic Medical Record) solution for doctors, optimized for the [iPad](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/https://drchrono.com/ipad_ehr/) and also available on iPhone and the Web. Drchrono has a wide range of features; including scheduling an appointment, inputting medical details, eprescribing, billing, and Medical Speech to Text technology. Perhaps the best feature is that the patient can get a copy of their medical records, via the app. Drchronos was founded in January 2009 by by Daniel Kivatinos and Michael Nusimow. In January of this year, according to [a New York Times report](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/drchrono-raises-2-8-million-to-digitize-doctors-visits/), more than 50,000 doctors and 400,000 patients were registered with the service. This excellent [promotional video](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/profiles/st-louis-urgent-cares/) by Apple showcases how Downtown Urgent Care in St. Louis, MO uses drchrono. ## Lots of Competition EMRs (sometimes called [EHR](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_health_record)s, Electronic *Health* Records) are a huge market opportunity and drchrono has [no shortage of competitors](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://betakit.com/2012/07/07/tech-companies-tackling-electronic-health-records). They include [Practice Fusion](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://www.practicefusion.com/), [HealthFusion](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://www.healthfusion.com/), [CareCloud](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://www.carecloud.com/), [Athenahealth](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://www.athenahealth.com/), [GloStream](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://www.glostream.com/) and [ElationEMR](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://www.elationemr.com/). The U.S. government is helping the EMR cause by providing incentives to go paperless, via the [HITECH Act](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/administrative/enforcementrule/hitechenforcementifr.html). If they use a certified EMR service like drchrono, physicians can qualify for $44,000 or more in economic stimulus incentives. Which is the leading EMR service? It’s difficult to say for sure, but [Practice Fusion](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://www.practicefusion.com/) appears to have the most registered customers. It claims more than 150,000 registered medical providers and 40 million patients – which makes it three times larger than drchrono in terms of physicians served. Practice Fusion was one of four digital health companies to receive [a huge funding round](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/investment-in-digital-health-triples-over-past-year.php) in the first half of 2012, with a $34 million Series C round a month ago. However, this market is still very much up for grabs. The vast majority of America’s hospitals and healthcare institutions still run a paper-based medical records system. A study released [in March 2009](https://web.archive.org/web/20120904071019/http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/HealthPolicy/13434) by the New England Journal of Medicine, stated that only 1.5% of 2,952 hospitals surveyed had a comprehensive EHR system. That figure is probably higher today, but it’s still early days for drchrono, Practice Fusion and other budding digital health EMR platforms. *Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/electronic-medical-records-finally-become-a-reality-thanks-to-the-ipad.php))*