News From Around the Web
> Santa Monica, Calif.-based TigerText, a secure real-time messaging company, has announced that it closed a $21 million Series B round of funding. TigerText's customer base has seen "expansive growth" with particular strength in healthcare. New large healthcare customers include Wellcon, Adventist Health, Hartford Healthcare, Danbury Hospital, Hoag Health Network, University of Connecticut, Doylestown Hospital, and Health Alliance. In 2013, TigerText achieved its third consecutive year of triple-digit sales growth, as sales climbed more than four times the previous year, according to the company. Article
> MapMyFitness apps can now sync their data with MyFitnessPal, a web- and app-based program that tracks diet, exercise and weight changes. The partnership allows workout data to be entered directly into MyFitnessPal's diet and exercise log tools. MapMyFitness, owned by Baltimore-based athletic apparel company Under Armour, is compatible with hundreds of fitness tracking devices, including Garmin, Polar, Wahoo and Fitbit devices. In November, Under Armour announced that it was buying MapMyFitness, one of the world's largest open fitness tracking platforms, for $150 million. Article
> More doctors are using smartphones for professional purposes than tablets, but there are a small number of tasks that they are more likely to perform on a tablet, finds a recent survey. For example, 28 percent of all doctors use tablets to read articles from medical publications while 21 percent do so on a smartphone. In addition, 16 percent of doctors use their tablets to access medically oriented webcasts/podcasts while 12 percent do so via a smartphone. Article
EMR News
> While many vendors of ambulatory electronic health records are struggling to keep up with the Meaningful Use requirements, Epic, athenahealth and Greenway are "on top" and have "separated themselves from the rest of the field," according to the latest report from Orem, Utah-based research firm KLAS. For the report, KLAS interviewed clinicians and IT personnel at mid-sized practices. The three top vendors distinguished themselves in different ways: Epic for consistent delivery in large hospital-based practices; athenahealth for its "nimble deployment" and frequent updates; and Greenway for great service to smaller, independent practices. Article
Healthcare IT News
> Adoption of electronic medical records by primary care physicians has grown substantially, but the "digital divide" between large and small physician practices persists, according to a new study from the Commonwealth Fund. Between 2009 and 2012, adoption grew from 46 percent to 69 percent. A majority of physicians use core health IT functions such as e-prescribing, electronic ordering of lab tests and certain types of clinical decision support. Practice size, however, is the major factor affecting adoption. Ninety percent in practices of 20 or more physicians use EMRs, compared to just half of those in solo practices. Article
And Finally… Rocky Mountain High. Article