New York City-based pingMD, also known as Dauphin Health, recently raised $1.33 million, according to a regulatory filing with the SEC. The company had previously raised about $400,000 in mid-2010. PingMD describes itself an app that offers parents a quick and easy way to message their child's pediatrician and a more efficient way for physicians to communicate with their patients.

PingMD's Co-Founder CEO Gopal Chopra told StartUp Beat that the company's target users are "doctors who are motivated to provide better service to their patients... [who] are searching for a solution, but they’re frustrated by their EMRs and portals, and bogged down by email and text. We know they’re using smartphones, tablets, and apps in their professional and personal lives, and that they’re open to change. PingMD is for the doc that loves technology and providing care, who does not see communication as an administrative task."

While there are a number of other companies offering comparable apps as a product or product feature, Chopra believes that pingMD's biggest competition is from patient portals and EMRs as well as from legacy communication lines like phone, email and text. PingMD banks on "professional boundary and security" as two reasons for physicians to choose it over regular phone calls and common text messaging or email.

Chopra said the company would use the funds to make a few big updates to the app, expand sales and marketing efforts, and recruit more employees. The company will continue to focus on growing its physician user base, while working toward a friction-less patient-to-provider experience for both doctors and parents. Both the recent SEC filing and the one from mid-2010 claim that the company has had zero revenue to date.

More over at StartUp Beat.