A healthcare IT business that works with primary care physician practices to provide patients access to electronic medical records has inked a deal with a Blueprint Health accelerator graduate to allow physicians to provide third-party access to medical records.
The deal integrates New York-based Hello Health’s HIPAA-compliant system used by primary care physicians with 5 O’clock Records’ platform to fill requests for records online. Physicians on the 5 O’clock platform can shift requests for medical records to an online portal where the companies log in, make their requests, upload authorizations and make payments. Then the physician transmits the patient’s medical record from the Hello Health platform to 5 O’clock Records, which uploads it to the website and shares it electronically with the requester.
5 O’clock Records’ system is designed to minimize the time constraints of physicians trying to run a practice and respond to requests for medical records. Its website claims that it can generate $1,000 to $1,500 per month for physician practices.
5 O’clock CEO Matt Cottrell was part of Blueprint Health’s inaugural class of healthcare startups. Prior to 5 O’clock, Cottrell founded a record retrieval service serving law firms, insurers and corporations for which it provided medical, various types of hospital records such as radiology and ambulatory records, and other documents.
Hello Health’s system provides patients with online scheduling, prescription renewal and lab results in exchange for a monthly subscription. For an additional fee they can send physicians emails and have telemedicine access, according to its website.
Nathanial Findlay, the CEO of Hello Health parent company Myca Health, presented the deal with 5 O’clock Records as a way for independent primary care physician practices to stay independent when overhead costs and reimbursement issues are making it increasingly difficult to do so.
Physician practices face greater financial liability under the Affordable Care Act. With other cost concerns like converting patient records into EMR formats, malpractice insurance costs and facing more regulatory paperwork, remaining independent is becoming less tenable and is forcing practices to join hospitals or medical groups to survive.
