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When patients go to the doctor these days, the first thing they're given is a clipboard with forms that have to be filled out in triplicate.
Troy Spracklin wants to change that.
The president and CEO of Edge Health Solutions just signed a multimillion dollar deal to integrate Chicago-based AllScripts' electronic health record software into Edge Health's suite of practice management applications.
Edge Health's apps are built on its proprietary Edge Management Platform exclusively for Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) Mac OS X operating system.
The new product, EdgeEHR Powered by AllScripts, will be offered to Edge Health's network of customers, most of which are medical and dental practices.
Now, patients won't have to fill out those long forms requiring the same information over and over again.
With healthcare a major part of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package, Spracklin is betting the dawn of the EHR era is about to break.
Growing Fast
Based in Richmond, British Columbia, Edge Health is growing fast.
Spracklin expects the startup to double in size to 20 employees in the next two months as it ramps up sales efforts behind EdgeEHR and a host of its other products.
Founded in June 2007, the company has five software applications:
- EdgeMD -- a medical suite for small to large clinics with multiple providers. The application helps doctors' offices with billing, scheduling, demographics and 2-D and 3-D digital radiography.
- EdgeDMS -- a dental suite that provides functionality similar to that of EdgeMD, but for dental offices.
- Clinical ChartBook -- an application that gives doctors and dentists the ability to take any form, chart or image and mark it up with a digital pen.
- EdgeDR -- an application that enables digital radiography for the iPhone. Dentists are able to view dental X-rays on the go.
- EdgeEHR -- an electronic health record that enables doctors to enter health information gleaned from patient encounters, such as patient histories, social histories, family indications, contraindications, prescriptions and so forth.
Edge Health has another software product under development -- EdgeRPM -- as part of its collaboration with AllScripts.
"It's one of the slickest mobile phone apps you'll ever see," Spracklin said. "It's a remote practice management tool for the iPhone that allows physicians to tap into their office networks. We just showed it to the Apple folks, and it should be available some time in March."
Obama Stimulus Will Help
Edge Health is counting on money from the recently passed economic stimulus package to inject massive amounts of money into the healthcare market.
"There's (US)$118 billion dedicated to healthcare in the stimulus bill and $19 billion for EHRs," said Spracklin, who, together with his wife, Rachel, owns 90 percent of the company. "In Canada, another $4.6 billion was just put into EHR by Canada Health Infoway." [*Editor's Note]
Don Cameron, Edge Health's chief financial officer, owns the other 10 percent of the company. Cameron is also the former CFO of the World Bank of Canada.
"There's no question that we're already seeing a lot of grant money that has become available, as well as many initiatives for doctors to get into these programs," Spracklin said. "Subsidization of software in the medical industry has been in place for years in Canada."
*ECT News Network Editor's Note: Troy Spracklin's comment that "another $4.6 billion was just put into EHR by Canada Health Infoway" is incorrect, according to Dan Strasbourg, director of corporate communications at Canada Health Infoway/Inforoute Sante du Canada. Infoway has been allocated a total of $2.1 billion from the government of Canada for investments in EHR systems, Strasbourg said, including $500 million received in the January 2009 Federal Budget.
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