ePocrates Positioned for Takeoff According to Business Week
Business Week
by Ellen Licking
Abstracted from Curing an Industry?s Ills
So what are the legitimate goals that the second wave of e-health companies should set? And how will they be rewarded in the marketplace? Many startups have focused on handheld devices that allow doctors to send wireless prescriptions, order lab tests, check for adverse drug reactions and dictate notes. Because these devices can improve the way a doctor practices medicine and don't require hundreds of thousand of dollars to set up, physicians appear interested. According to an October article in Modern Physician, more than a quarter of doctor?s own handholds. Of those, 22.2% have replaced their prescription pads with these gadgets.
Already dozens of companies are competing to put these devices into the hands of the country?s doctors. The vanguard includes startups such as ePocrates, iScribe, Parkstone Medical Information Systems and Allscripts. Some appear to be positioned for takeoff. Allscripts Inc, a start up in Libertyville, Ill., has signed up more than 2,000 doctors to use its Palm and Pocket PC software. By acquiring a rival called ChannelHealth Inc, it will soon reach an additional 118,000 physicians.
For most of these ventures the ideal client is a tech-savvy professional like Dr. Charles F. Schaefer, an internal and critical-care specialist at University Hospital in August Ga, who whips out his Palm about 20 times a day. An incident last March explains why he?s addicted. A teenager visited his office, complaining of a miserable cold and heavy congestion. Schaefer was about to prescribe an antibiotic but then remembered the young man?s determatologist had prescribed acne medication. Schaefer checked his Palm, which was loaded with a prescription-drug reference program made by ePocrates Inc. of San Carlos Calif.. ?Lo and behold, the drug I was going to give him could have caused increased pressure on the brain,? which can be life-threatening. Schaefer says. ?I have made better decisions because I have consulted the ePocrates program.? |
