Software developer drchrono recently made waves when it released an electronic health care management app for the iPad, which then received ONC-ATCB certification. Now the developer has continued its work in the mobile space, releasing an iOS app designed to replace paper-based patient check-ins at physicians’’ offices.
The new app is called OnPatient and it can be downloaded for free on iPads. OnPatient can be utilized as a standalone platform for patient check-in; it can also be integrated with the EHR app previously released by drchrono.
Michael Nusimow, CEO and co-founder of drchrono, hopes that the company’s new mobile apps will streamline digital record keeping and patient check-in while also reducing costs. “The OnPatient check-in app digitizes the waiting room and eliminates significant barriers to mass adoption of patient check-in technology,” said Nusimow. “Proprietary check-in hardware is prohibitively expensive and integration with existing EHR systems is too complex. We designed the OnPatient app to be intuitive for both physicians and patient users to create a better patient check-in experience.”
The OnPatient app features templates that can be customized to an individual practice, eliminating the need for clipboards and physical paper copies in waiting rooms. Patients who download the app will be able to provide family medical history and demographic information, enter insurance coverage information, upload a profile photo, and sign HIPAA consent forms digitally. The information then integrates automatically into the drchrono records system. Upon later visits, patients will not have to fill out duplicate forms, instead simply confirming that the information is accurate. Any changes in information can be entered through the app.
That saves “time and money,” according Nusimow. “Putting in insurance info and all that minutiae takes a lot of time.”
“…The next time [patients] go to the doctor, they can just engage with the doctor,” he continued.
Surinder Saini, MD, a gastroenterologist who practices in Fountain Valley, California, was an early adopter of OnPatient. Saini says that OnPatient “has benefited my practice in many ways.” The app also makes entering records easier and more enjoyable for patients, according to Saini. They enjoy being “given an iPad to register in the office,” and they “love to enter information” using the iPad.
According to officials, OnPatient meets all health care industry standards for the privacy and security of patient information.
The good news continues for drchrono: the company recently announced that it secured $650,000 in seed funding from Yuri Milner, founder of DST Global, and General Catalyst, a venture capital firm. The company had previously announced in July that it received $675,000 in funding from General Catalyst, 500 Startups, Charles River Ventures, and angel investors.
drchrono’s earlier EHR app was granted ONC-ATCB certification in July, being the first iPad-native app to receive the recognition. The certification allowed physicians’ offices to receive up to $44,000 in government incentives for adopting the paperless records system. “This certification transforms our EHR app and the iPad into a potentially affordable platform that could finally drive global usage and adoption of electronic medical records,” said Nusimow. “The government subsidy offered to physicians who adopt our free EHR solution could be transformational in bringing electronic record keeping into every medical practice.”
The app automatically tracks how much an office uses it and calculates the amount that the office should receive in incentives then submits that amount to the government.
Daniel Kivatinos is cofounder and COO of drchrono. “The government is incentivizing doctors to go digital and the iPad is a natural fit in the medical space,” said Kivatinos. “It was a thrilling experience to be the first company to use an iPad during the meaningful use certification process.”