Modernizing Medicine
Revolutionizing Healthcare through Cloud-based Electronic Medical Assistant

“The technological developments, over the last few decades, are typically one-sided. I feel that for some reason, the healthcare industry was left behind in the technology uprising,” begins Daniel Cane, CEO and Co-founder of Modernizing Medicine. After revolutionizing the education sector in 2004 by cofounding Blackboard, Cane shifted his focus to healthcare along with his dermatologist Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Michael Sherling, to transform how healthcare information is created, consumed and utilized in order to increase efficiency and improve outcomes. Modernizing Medicine now provides specialty-specific offerings in the dermatology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, otolaryngology and plastic and cosmetic surgery markets and to more than 1,300 physician practices across the country.

“The key challenge is to provide an effective approach to streamline medical data in a structured way,” continues Cane. To overcome this challenge, Modernizing Medicine’s experts created Electronic Medical Assistant (EMA), a cloud-based, specialty-specific electronic medical records (EMR) system with a massive library of built-in medical content, designed to save physicians time. “EMA is a native iPad app which adapts to each provider’s unique style of practice and is designed to interface with hundreds of different practice management systems, saving our client’s time and resources,” explains Cane. Interestingly, at Modernizing Medicine, specialty physicians develop EMA, as Cane and Sherling believe this will help create a superior product.

“Our app anticipates each provider’s method of practice and the system actually gives notifications when a treatment is prescribed, so that it can be cross-checked,” says Cane. Today, Modernizing Medicine is one of the fastest growing providers of specialty- specific EMR software. “Our platform provides an enterprise class application with robust security, effective back-up and tremendous performance for end-user experience,” says Cane. “We focus on unique aspects of saving time and increasing the accuracy of billing and coding which includes CPT and ICD9 and 10 codes for the surgical specialty markets. What makes the surgical specialty market unique is that their requirements and documentation are visual,” clarifies Cane.

Modernizing Medicine began its medical invasion from the dermatology field with over 3,000 providers using the system. “Currently, we have more than 25 percent of the entire US dermatology market, which we believe is a tremendous amount of traction for any organization,” adds Cane. Touch-based EMA includes the zoomable EMA Interactive Anatomical Atlas™ to facilitate physician documentation and patient communications. Plus, EMA collects structured data which helps the decision-making processby enabling physicians to accurately track patient outcomes and see how other doctors across the country treat similar patients. As a keen follower of the current technological advancements, Cane says, “we are looking at intersecting Big Data and Cloud to make- Modernizing Medicine medical decision making more refined.”

One of Modernizing Medicine’s big success stories was in 2011, when Illinois Dermatology needed an efficient EMR system. The group felt that moving to an EMR system would be a unifying force. The institute wanted a solution that was cloud-based, flexible, cost-effective, and one that does not require on-site IT support. After evaluating numerous dermatology specific EMR systems, the client decided on EMA. Within two years, EMA improved the institute’s revenue growth by providing more accurate coding, enhanced patient experience and faster documentation.

EMA automatically adapts to each provider’s unique style of practice and remembers physician preferences, saving them time

Akin to the iPad revolution, Cane predicts that the next big change as the schEMA powered by Watson app, for which Modernizing Medicine collaborates with IBM Watson, designed to help providers offer optimized treatment options.

The company is looking to expand its foothold in three more verticals, gastroenterology, rheumatology, and urology. “The more users we have, the more the system will be able to help providers practice more effectively,” he claims.