The digital physical therapy, telehealth and patient engagement platform from UK-based Physitrack is getting a boost in users thanks to a new partnership with mobile EHR company drchrono.

Tapped directly by Apple under the tech giant’s largely stealthy Mobility Partner Program, the two companies are joining forces to integrate Physitrack’s home exercise program into drchrono’s EHR on the web, iPad, iPhone and Apple Watch. Starting this month, all of drchrono’s provider customers – which is over 100,000 – will have access to Physitrack to use with their patients through their EHR account.

The partnership is notable for its scale and smooth iOS integration – drchrono was the first EHR to build a native app for iPad and iPhone, and offers sophisticated touches like text-to-speech functionality and fingerprint scan accessibility. Seeing the benefits of housing Physitrack’s digital clinical exercise program and patient engagement capabilities inside drchono's Apple-focused EHR, Apple reached out to both startups.

“This is a perfect example of Apple’s accelerated Mobility Partner Program, as it was Apple that came to both of us to look at what we could to do create an integrated, seamless experience,” Physitrack CEO and Cofounder Henrik Molin told MobiHealthNews. “It runs on all the bells and whistles of our program to give doctors a way to provide home exercises, specialized telehealth, outcomes reporting and analytics, and it all fits very snugly inside drchrono’s EMR.”

The aim of Physitrack is to offer a better solution to patients who are preparing or recovering from surgery, such as joint replacement, than the traditional paper-based exercise regimens that can be difficult to follow and often result in poor recovery outcomes. The platform’s remote monitoring and compliance tracking makes both parties more accountable, and patients also have access to educational content. To start a new program, physicians choose from over 3,500 fully narrated exercise videos and more than 180 program templates to create tailored prescriptions for each patient. The platform can livestream videos with integrated telehealth capabilities to allow for video consultations and secure messaging.

“The vision of where we are going with Apple’s MPP and our partnership is to create the best mobile experience for the physician, and at the point of care is where we really shine,” Daniel Kivatinos, cofounder and COO of drchrono told MobiHealthNews. “Then, there is also the element of being able to hand off the treatment, from pre-visit, inpatient and post-surgical, and we round out the whole experience with Physitrack.”

Physitrack, which was founded in 2012, has enjoyed considerable success in Europe, New Zealand and the United States, and works with many large practice management software companies. There are other digital physical therapy platforms out there, such as PeerWell’s PreHab and Rehab offerings, but Physitrack is different for its telehealth capabilities and workflow integration. The streamlined drchrono version of the program nudges them even further forward.

“This is the first time both therapeutic patient engagement and secure video consultations has been combined inside a practice EHR in this way,” Michael Nusimow, CEO and cofounder of drchrono, said in a statement. “drchrono is excited to offer healthcare practitioners this innovative technology, which is designed to enhance the patient journey and improve their outcomes. Practitioners will be able to conduct patient consultations through Physitrack regardless of their location,and document those consultations, tightly intergrated with drchrono.”

The drchrono collaboration marks the largest partnership and client base the company has ever worked had, and Molin believes it will be well-received.

“There is a big need for this, there is a lot of hunger to digitize, and a lot of practices are looking to meet the needs of patients who are actually quite tech savvy; they are used to wellness programs, fitness programs, and in most places where we have marketed, there has been immediate take up,” Molin said. “This is even bigger because the integrated solution is something that has the touch of Apple’s designers, so it makes it something that is instantly understood and loved by a lot of people. It doesn’t take that much to get people excited about it.”

Kivatinos emphasized the accountability it creates for patients and physicians, which he believes can only be achieved through modernizing the healthcare system.

“If you look at the future of healthcare, it’s mobile, and we are looking at how we create that experience,” Kivatinos said. “I wouldn’t say we are trying to replace existing systems, but rather, we are trying to push the boundaries of what the medical experience can be.”