Modernizing Medicine has secured a $5 million investment, completing the $20 million funding round the company began last November. One of the investors in the round was IBM, through its $100 million fund to seed Watson innovations. The company is not disclosing the other investors. This investment brings the Modernizing Medicine's total funding to $49 million.

As we reported last fall, Modernizing Medicine makes a mobile-based electronic health record targeted at specialists called EMA (electronic medical assistant). The company has more than 5,000 provider users, including more than thirty percent of US dermatologists. They use aggregated, deidentified data to create population-level insights that are then delivered back to the physician.

The company is also developing a new app as part of IBM Watson's ecosystem project, called schEMA. The new app will build on the work EMA does with aggregated EHR data, but add in Watson's ability to parse unstructured data, to give medical specialists the best data on treatment options for their patients. The new funding will be used to build out both products.

"Modernizing Medicine is a great example of the breakthrough innovation we have seen from our partners who are building a new class of cognitive computing solutions powered by Watson," Stephen Gold, vice president of IBM Watson, said in a statement. "IBM's investment will help speed the introduction of their schEMA app and demonstrates how Watson can be used by medical professionals to improve how they practice evidence-based medicine."

Modernizing Medicine is an early member of the Watson Ecosystem, which allows developers to integrate IBM's Watson cognitive computing capabilities into apps. More than 7,000 apps have been created to date according to IBM.

"Today's announcement is an exciting milestone in our journey to deliver specialty-specific solutions to healthcare providers, including an entirely new class of cognitive-infused patient care apps powered by Watson," Daniel Cane, co-founder and CEO of Modernizing Medicine, said in a statement. "After being selected to join the Watson Ecosystem last year, we're honored that IBM and our other investors are committed to our vision for schEMA and its ability to help physicians transform dermatology and other specialties."

Correction: This article originally incorrectly stated that IBM was the only contributor to the new $5 million investment.