Doctors can now draw, fax, and prescribe from iPad

drchrono debuts new features to help doctors qualify for EHR Meaningful Use incentives

Drchrono, the mobile electronic health record (EHR) app for the iPad, is unveiling some new features today that should draw even more medical professionals to its platform.  The Y Combinator grad announced Thursday that its app now includes free e-prescribing, FreeDraw, and faxing.  The new features add the complete functionality required for medical professionals to qualify for federal Meaningful Use incentives, which can earn them up to $44,000.

The free e-prescribing feature is exactly what it sounds like: electronic prescription writing, for free.  Now doctors can write up a prescription for any drug and send it over to the patient’s pharmacy, right from their iPad, free of charge.

“EPrescribing is an important part of Meaningful Use.  We believe that physicians who want to meet the requirements for MU in 2011 should be able to for free,” drchrono co-founder Daniel Kivatinos tells me.  

The FreeDraw tool allows doctors to do free-hand, color-coded drawings on any document from their iPad.  For example, a doctor might get an X-ray and circle a suspicious mass or fracture, and then send the X-ray with a note to a specialist for review.  A healthcare professional can use FreeDraw on X-rays, skeletal diagrams, and more, and embed the image in their notes.  The company says that the ability to draw on an image was the number one requested feature by doctors using the drchrono app.

And finally, the faxing tool allows physicians to send faxes directly from the drchrono iPad app or from the drchrono Web app.  Physicians can send faxes straight from the patient’s health record, enter a fax number, and attach a cover sheet with a note.

“We have a vision of creating a Patient Care Platform with a best-in-class tool set for physician/patient interaction on the iPad,” said Kivatinos.  “Freehand drawing on medical notes and allowing faxing through iPads is a next logical step. Both are critical in making clinical communication and workflow better.”

Kivatinos said that drchrono’s growth has been exponential with some 10,000 registered providers now using the platform, and the company’s Meaningful Use certification back in June has contributed to its growth.  The Meaningful Use Act offers qualifying physicians up to $44,000 in federal incentives if they can show that they are using an electronic health record platform (like drchrono) enough to be eligible. 

Drchrono provides a summary dashboard to each provider to measure their progress towards MU qualification, as well as what they have to do to meet each requirement.  Kivatinos said that the company has just begun to see the first of its providers submitting claims.