On the surface, the recent acquisition of Quantia by Physicians Interactive looks like just another mHealth deal, one designed to bolster PI's platform and give the company a more robust resource for its 3.5 million physician users.

But the partnership goes beyond giving physicians a static library of clinical information. Donato Tramuto, PI's chairman and CEO, said he was particularly interested in Quantia's online community, which reaches roughly one-third of the nation's doctors.

"Quantia has a peer-to-peer dialogue that we didn't have," he told mHealth News. "This is about engagement."

He likened the deal to a McDonald's advertising tactic. The worldwide fast food chain always brags that it has served millions of customers, he says, but no one knows what they ordered or whether they liked their food.

The partnership fits nicely into the concept of today's mobile-optimized physician. He or she most likely has a smartphone, and quite possibly a tablet or laptop as well, and can access PI's digital health platform for clinical decision support at the point of care. But that mobile device is more than just a handy reference tool – it's a communication tool as well. By synching with the QuantiaMD mobile community, that physician can reach out in real time and chat with others, ask questions and get answers.

Tramuto said he evaluates Quantia's platform by three metrics: How many physicians access the site, how often they access the site, and – most importantly - how long they stay on the site ("It's almost like Facebook," he says). If they're logging on every day, and staying logged on for a considerable amount of time, they're engaged.

"When they come in and do things, they're learning," he said. "That's what we're looking for."

“On QuantiaMD, physicians average more than 20 minutes per session, learning from experts and peers within a highly dynamic web and mobile community,” Nick Werthessen, Quantia's chief operating officer, said in the press release announcing the partnership. “By combining our community with Physicians Interactive’s digital health platform, we can offer an unmatched level of healthcare professional reach and engagement to our customers, while empowering physicians to save time and enhance care via innovative digital and social technologies.”

Tramuto says the partnership is all about creating a more informed clinician at the point of care, who can diagnose and treat correctly and avoid the clinical errors that kill more patients each year than plan crashes.

"I think we are all heading to that commitment to finding mobile tools that … will greatly decrease errors in treatment," he said.

The Quantia acquisition is the latest in a series of moves by seven-year-old PI to become a care coordination network – and not just for the clinical community. The company took in Skyscape in 2010 to bolster its mHealth capabilities, then acquired MedHelp last year to move into the patient engagement market.

Tramuto said seen a heightened interest in consumer-facing healthcare over the last 18 months as insurance co-pays increase and the consumer takes more of an active interest in healthcare and health management decisions.

Eventually, he says, he'd like to combine those online consumer and physician networks.

"We have to follow where the market is heading," he said.

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