Can an Ad-Supported EMR Fuel Healthcare's Technology Revolution?

NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- As US doctors consider the switch from paper charts to Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Good Health Media and Practice Fusion have teamed up to provide an absolutely free EMR system supported by targeted advertising.  Practice Fusion is the only ad-supported EMR platform for medical providers in a sector dominated by systems costing as much as $87,000 for a five provider practice in the first year. Since launching in 2005, Practice Fusion has grown quickly to 43,000 users and has gathered media attention for disrupting the health IT status quo.  

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Good Health Media is the fastest growing health ad network with 38 million uniques a month (comScore) and is the exclusive ad network for Practice Fusion. Medical and pharmaceutical brands such as Wyeth, J&J, Amgen and Merck rely on Good Health Media for quality, targeted ad placements. Ads selected for display within Practice Fusion are carefully reviewed for relevancy to medical providers working mostly in primary care practices.

"Advertising is a natural fit in the healthcare sector," said Bill Jennings, CEO of Good Health Media. "Doctors get it; they're comfortable with discreet advertising inside their medical practice. The advertising programs give a small medical practice the chance to add a time-saving, life-saving technology solution – for free. It's a benefit for the advertiser, the doctor and the patient."

Key facts:

• Practice Fusion's free, web-based Electronic Medical Record system serves 43,000 medical professionals in the US.
• Legacy EMR systems cost $50,000+ per physician; a prohibitive price for small medical practices and a main factor in low technology adoption rates. EMR price comparison.
• Ads from Good Health Media and Practice Fusion are discrete, private, never pop-up and never interrupt the practitioner's workflow. Sample EMR ad placement.
• Practice Fusion's unique ad-supported model was profiled in Wired Editor Chris Anderson's book Free: The Future of a Radical Price.
• Ad-supported business models, long established in the consumer sector, are starting to emerge in the business sector. Practice Fusion is one of the only ad-supported enterprise businesses in the US along with IT management tool, Spiceworks.
• Ad-supported internet companies contribute $300 billion to the US economy and support 1.2 million US jobs according to a 2009 IAB study.
• Online ad spending in the pharmaceutical sector is predicted to increase 10.6% this year according to an eMarketer study.

"Our goal is to equip every doctor in the US with the highest quality Electronic Medical Record system," said Ryan Howard, CEO of Practice Fusion. "80% of the 800,000 doctors in the US practice in groups of nine or less.  Those medical practices are small businesses that can't afford a $50,000/year EMR system. Together with Good Health Media, we're helping out the little guy."

About Good Health Media

Good Health Media delivers specific health condition audiences to pharma and consumer brands. The company's "ConditionMatch" technology tracks and targets the most frequent consumer visitors to niche health content, often at half the CPM of the major health portals. Advertisers include Merck, J&J, Wyeth, Shire, Takeda, Walmart Pharmacy, and Amgen. Good Health Media was recently ranked as the fastest growing health ad network with 93% user growth in the past 12 months (comScore). GHM is backed by Metamorphic Ventures and several individual investors including Mike Perlis (Softbank), Rick Thompson/Larry Braitman (Founders Adify, Flycast), Joe Apprendi (Founder Collective), Richard Forman (Health Venture Group), Geoff Judge (co-founder 24/7), Bill Benedict (Alpine Meridian), Chris Young (Founder Digital Broadcasting Group). ConditionMatch and ConditionSearch are trademarks of Good Health Media.  For more information, visit www.ghmedia.com.  

About Practice Fusion

Practice Fusion provides a free, web-based Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system to physicians. With charting, scheduling, e-prescribing, billing, lab integrations, unlimited support and a Personal Health Record for patients, Practice Fusion's EMR addresses the complex needs of today's healthcare providers and disrupts the health IT status quo. Practice Fusion is the fastest growing EMR community in the country with more than 43,000 users. For more information on Practice Fusion, please visit practicefusion.com.

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Ryan Howard

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SOURCE Practice Fusion