
Drchrono (YC W11) Brings iPad-Based Medical Records To Doctors - d8niel
http://blogs.forbes.com/tomiogeron/2011/07/14/drchrono-brings-ipad-based-medical-records-to-doctors/
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axiom
Anyone have an idea as to how so many Y-Combinator companies get this kind of
mind blowingly awesome press? is it just the brand recognition of being a YC
company?

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kitcar
2 main cases I would guess:

1) Big press is now interested in YCombinator, and therefore reaches out
independently to YCombinator companies

2) YCombinator staff+alum have press relationships from previous
businesses/life, and therefore are able to provide a "warm" intro for the
startup. If the startup has a good story, the press is receptive.

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ck2
So when someone overseas hacks thousands of medical records and posts them
online (essentially a permanent archive because it will get saved and
reuploaded over time) because of a guaranteed security hole somewhere among
the numerous layers, how will that be undone? Who will go to prison? and will
it change anything?

Some things should not be on the internet. Military secrets and medical files
are two of them.

Can you imagine the nightmare if our nuclear silos were built today and
powered by Windows and linked on the internet because it was more cost
effective for the lowest bidder?

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jamesteow
I'd love to buy my dad an iPad with this app. He's old but moderately tech
savvy so I'm hoping that the UI will be simple enough for him to understand.

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torrenegra
Congrats Drchrono team! Are are missed in NYC.

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iy56
Major healthcare IT companies like Centricity and Epic already provide iPad
apps for physicians to use. drchrono says their biggest competition is paper
charts because everyone that already has an electronic records system would
rather use an iPad app provided by the same vendor.

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ABrandt
_disclaimer: I work for Epic_

Paper is drchrono's competition not because they can't go head to head with
the major vendors, but because they're likely going after a completely
different market. Epic targets the largest healthcare organizations (i.e.
Kaiser Permanente) and thus our software is geared towards those specific use
cases. EHRs have been in place for many many years in most organizations this
size (100+ physicians). I would imagine that drchrono is instead targeting
much smaller practices and facilities that still rely heavily on paper. This
is a niche offering. Fortunately for them, a niche in healthcare IT is still
very big business.

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drivingmenuts
My problem with this is that the patient information is stored "in the cloud".
As such, the terms of any agreements always favor the provider if the
information ever escapes.

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famousactress
As opposed to the alternative (data stored locally on servers at the clinic)?
I think the amount of buck-passing in that situation is actually a bigger
problem. It's easy for the blame to be passed around from the vendor to the
local IT staff, to the users, etc.

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athom
Actually, yes. HIPAA -- the Health Information Portability and Accountability
Act -- is the watchword in medical recordkeeping, these days, and cloud
storage is a major point of failure if you don't do it right. Neither DrChrono
nor the linked article mention HIPAA, except to say they're compliant. They
need to say _how_ they're compliant, give _details_ up front. I'd be more
willing to take them seriously if they discussed the topic more like this:

 _The Nirvanix Cloud Storage Network meets the healthcare industry's need for
secure archives. You can use policy-based replication to store data at
multiple storage nodes that meet SAS 70 compliance. Nirvanix solutions encrypt
data both in flight and at rest and enable you to instantly verify the
integrity of your files. You also can make data securely available to selected
users. We even seamlessly migrate data to new discs on standard refresh
cycles, eliminating the complexities of long-term retention. With its secure
long-term storage, the Nirvanix cloud will help you to comply with HIPAA
Privacy and HIPAA Security Rules as well as other mandates for data privacy._
(<http://www.nirvanix.com/solutions/healthcare.aspx>)

Here's a few other links that discuss the topic in a more informative manner:

[http://www.hipaacompliancejournal.com/2009/05/cloud-
storage-...](http://www.hipaacompliancejournal.com/2009/05/cloud-storage-and-
hipaa-compliance/)

[http://billkos.squarespace.com/hit-
journal/2010/1/21/cloud-s...](http://billkos.squarespace.com/hit-
journal/2010/1/21/cloud-storage-services-that-claim-hipaa-compliance.html)

<http://hipaaaudit.com/2010/06/22/do-no-evil-says-google/>

EDIT: Replaced Nirvanix quote with the _correct_ paragraph. Oh, and I don't
represent the company. Just picked 'em out of a search.

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orangechicken
drchrono should hook up with Seattle design firm Artefact. They just won an
award for design work for Seattle Children's Hospital creating a tablet
interface for medical charts. More info at
[http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_future_of_hospital_...](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_future_of_hospital_apps.php)

