San Francisco-based Practice Fusion, which offers electronic health records and patient management software company, has acquired after-hours virtual visits company Ringadoc for an undisclosed sum. Los Angeles-based Ringadoc was originally incubated in Practice Fusion's San Francisco offices around the same time as another startup, 100Plus. Both startups received an angel investment from Practice Fusion CEO Ryan Howard and, now, both ended up being acquired by the company too.
Ringadoc, founded in 2010, has raised at least $1.9 million. Existing investors include Founders Fund’s FF Angel, Practice Fusion CEO Ryan Howard, Sharon Knight, former president of concierge-style health provider One Medical Group, Siemer VC, Telegraph Hill Group, and Dr. Lyle Dennis, who is the Chief of Neurology at Bon Secours Health System.
Ringadoc connects patients to doctors if they want to avoid using their physicians’ call system. Others who don’t have a physician might also be able to use the service to help them decide whether they should go to the emergency room, the urgent care center, or whether the issue might be handled over the phone. Pricing for Ringadoc starts at $69 per month with one provider for unlimited calls and messages.
“There are three things necessary to make telemedicine possible: doctors, patients and data – and Practice Fusion’s EHR has all of these at scale," Howard said in a statement. "Ringadoc was a natural fit for us and will advance development of our full-fledged telemedicine platform, which could translate to avoiding millions of in-person trips to see a doctor for everything from a fever to a potential concussion. When it’s midnight on a Saturday and your child has a fever of 101, waiting the industry average of 18.5 days to see a primary care physician is not an option. Acquiring Ringadoc allows us to continue delivering on our mission of connecting doctors, patients and data to drive better health and save lives.”
In 2011, Ringadoc launched with plans to offer a patient facing app, which enabled patients to record video messages ahead of a virtual visit with a new physician, but after a few years they re-focused on improving after hour phone consultations for patients and physicians.
Practice Fusion acquired 100Plus in February 2013. Just four months after the acquisition of 100Plus, Practice Fusion used the company's technology to launch Practice Fusion Insight, an analytics platform that aims to give physicians, insurers, researchers, pharmaceutical companies and industry analysts intelligence about populations of patients.
The Ringadoc acquisition and integration won't be PracticeFusion's first foray in enabling remote care services. In February 2014, Practice Fusion announced an integration with smartphone-connected ECG maker AliveCor so that healthcare providers who use AliveCor’s smartphone-enabled, single-channel ECG can import electrocardiogram readings, annotated reports and expert reviews into their EHR.
At the end of last year, Practice Fusion also raised another $15 million, bringing its latest round of funding up to $85 million.
