Kareo, a California-based company that sells practice management services and software, has just released free electronic health record (EHR) software accessible through a Web browser or an iPad app.
Chief medical information officer (CMIO) Dr. Thomas Gianulli said that the software was offered on a “freemium” model. Users pay nothing for the product, and they also don’t get bombarded with ads.
“It’s kind of a gesture of goodwill,” Giannuli told InformationWeek, although the company will utilize the HER software as a starting point for selling other practice management services and applications.
Kareo purchased the intellectual property behind its EHR offering from a company called Epocrates, which was acquired by AthenaHealth earlier this year. Epocrates had debuted a native iPad version of its EHR software only to pull the item from development within a week’s time.
The Kareo app incorporates the doctor-designed Eporates clinical knowledge base featuring the top 100 problems that primary care professionals are likely to encounter. For specialists or clinics that focus on a narrower band of services, the knowledge base can be customized.
The Web-native app is written in HTML5 and designed to run in the cloud. Kareo designed the EHR software with usability as a top priority. “Kareo EHR makes it easy to get out from behind the computer and engage with your patients,” the company explained on its website.
With the app, physicians can access the patient’s chart containing problem lists, medications and allergy alerts. From there, doctors can build notes and effectively manage patient interactions.
Key features include registration and appointment scheduling; home page and dashboard with an overview of the day’s schedule; speech to text for iPad and Mac note-taking; quick ordering for lab tests and prescriptions; direct input of medical codes into a Kareo practice management account and online patient access to medication history and lab results.
In addition, the system also automatically scores for Meaningful Use requirements, meaning that physicians don’t have to go back and audit their files for compliance.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
