A new paradigm for EMRs--publishing

Over the last year or so, an aggressive little health IT startup in San Francisco has drawn a fair amount of press for its size, including a mention in the New York Times. The company, Practice Fusion, has taken its share of lumps [1] in the blogosphere for its approach, which offers doctors access to a free EMR and practice management system in exchange for accepting targeted advertising. 

I understand why people would be concerned that private patient data could somehow leak into advertisers' hands, despite the company's stated commitment to keeping such data private.

That being said, now that the market has gotten used to the idea of advertiser-supported EMRs--much of the bloggish outrage dates from about a year ago, when Practice Fusion first started getting attention--I think it's time to give this model another, more detached  look.

Don't get me wrong, I already made it clear that I think Practice Fusion itself is a fairly hot company in and of itself when I named it one of our Health IT Innovators [2] last year. However, my real point is that with virtually all physicians needing EMRs (but few in a position to pay for one) this one company is unlikely to remain alone in this category for much longer.

In fact, to be honest I'm surprised that Google, WebMD or Microsoft hasn't swooped down and recreated Practice Fusion's model using its own tools already. Perhaps this hasn't happened yet because a smaller company like PF can do a better job of building trust (and allaying privacy fears) than a multi-billion-dollar giant. Also, if Google or its peers tried this and got a black eye, it would be far more public and painful than if PF stumbles.

Whatever the current barrier to entry is, though, it won't last forever. Within the next year or two, I believe that ad-supported EMRs will become as accepted as ad-supported magazines, with the ads themselves given equally little attention or concern. After all, looked at another way, patient data is just content--like the words in this newsletter--and running advertising against it is simply an age-old publishing technique. Of course, patient records require extra respect and protection, but it's still content.

That being said, I know not everyone agrees with me. Do you think ad-supported EMRs are appropriate, and are they likely to achieve widespread acceptance? Write to me and let me know.- Anne [3]