Epocrates EHR for Small Practices Enters Beta

The San Mateo, Calif.-based Epocrates Inc. announced its mobile and Web-based electronic health record (EHR) solution has entered beta and is now being tested by solo and small group physician offices across the country. The company also announced an agreement with Nuance Communications Inc. (Burlington, Mass.) to leverage the Nuance Healthcare Development Platform (NHDP) to integrate Nuance’s cloud-based, medical speech recognition technology as a component of its Epocrates EHR solution.

The family practitioner offices participating in the closed beta have the opportunity to experience the flexibility of Epocrates’ EHR system. Features in the beta include built-in workflow and clinical templates for specific procedures. A feature that is planned for a future EHR version is SpeechAnywhere, integrated Nuance medical speech recognition technology, which will empower medical professionals to create medical reports - anytime, anywhere (in exam rooms, offices, labs or in the field) and on any device (desktop, iPhone®, iPad®, etc.) via voice input. Physicians will benefit from the flexibility in creating clinical documentation and will gain clinical efficiency from the immediate availability of clinical notes, leading to faster, higher quality patient care.

The Epocrates Web and mobile EHR solution is built from the physicians’ perspective and incorporates input from the company’s network of more than 315,000 physicians. It is specifically designed to serve the more than 50 percent of U.S. physicians who work in solo and small group practices. It features Epocrates’ drug and safety content and addresses physicians’ requirements for an EHR solution.