Health IT

Providing secure release of health record data, Verisma raises $12M

Verisma is expected to add dozens of staff across sales, marketing, and technology.

A health IT company that provides a service allowing healthcare providers to securely manage the release of patient health record data has raised $12 million, according to a statement from one of Verisma Systems’ investors, NewSpring Capital.

Verisma will use the funds to expand its customer base and add dozens of staff across sales, marketing, technology and its management team.

NewSpring Capital, a new investor, allocated $5 million from its dedicated healthcare investment fund to the financing round. Other new investors participating in the funding round were Blue Heron Capital and Jim Crook, former president of IDX Systems Corp.

As is the case with several aspects of health IT, there has been consolidation in this sub-sector of providing health records and other clinical data support. Among Verisma’s competitors are HealthPort, the largest company in the space. When it merged with IOD Inc earlier this year, it created a new business with $450 million in revenue and 6,000 employees. MRO Corp. is also a large player.

Companies such as Verisma and HealthPort help hospitals provide patient records to patients but also charge a fee for doing so. These companies have found themselves at the heart of a wider debate on the ethics of charging patients to access their own data. Verisma and HealthPort have been targeted alongside hospitals in a group of lawsuits in Rochester, New York. A suit cited by Rochester Business Journal said that the fee of 75 cents a page that Verisma and HealthPort charge to fulfill patients’ and providers’ requests for copies of patient records violates New York’s Public Health Law and the state’s business laws. HeathPort is also at the center of some lawsuits in New York City.

Photo: Flickr user Jenna

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