Practice Fusion receives $2M for medical e-records

Former Facebook Director of Mobile Jed Stremel invests in Practice Fusion's EHR model

Electronic Health Record (EHR) service Practice Fusion announced Wednesday a $2 million in funding from Jed Stremel, an Asana and Flipboard investor and former Facebook Director of Mobile. Stremel joins previous investors Ali Partovi, Hadi Partovi and Founders Fund, which had closed a $23 million Series B round in 2011.

Practice Fusion has raised over $38 million in total, with other investors including Band of Angels and Felicis Ventures, among others. The company currently has over 130,000 medical professionals using its system, caring for over 29 million patients across the US.

Practice Fusion provides a free, Web-based Electronic Health Records system for physicians to access patient records. The company touts "bank-level" security, important when dealing with confidential medical records. Other features on the system include charting, scheduling, e-prescribing, messaging, lab integration options, and document managing.

Stremel characterized the EHR market as "crowded" in the company's release -- other nationwide EHRs in use invlude VistA, used by the Department of Veteran Affairs, as well as HealthConnect used by Kaiser Permanente. But Stremel also expressed confidence in their passion for building a "smart and sustainable business." 

Practice Fusion has indicated it will use the funding for continued growth in 2012, the development of an iPad and iPhone app (for which Stremel could possibly prove a useful resource) and, according to the company's release, the furthering of their Meaningful Use initiative, "to help doctors earn up to $64,000+ in gevernment incentives."

"Meaningful Use" refers to the criteria for the implementation of the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allocates $19 billion in government funds, as well as $29 billion to be paid through Medicare and Medicade EHR incentives, for developing health information technology. Only physicians and hospitals that are deemed "meaningful users" of EHR systems are elligible for the funding.

Two other medical companies who have lately received fundings are cloud-based medical billing company Kareo and online medical advice site AskTheDoctor.