Welcome to EMR and HIPAA

I’ve recently been rather critical of Practice Fusion’s free EMR offering. I honestly don’t think that any of my feelings have changed about their offering. However, here’s a part of their press release that at least shows they’re getting some traction

Practice Fusion, the leader in free, web-based physician practice applications, announced today the addition of 1,300 medical professionals since its launch in November of 2007 and is currently serving more than a quarter million patients.

That should be a large enough sample size to get some interesting feedback about the product. The question is whether the product is really that good or whether the people at Practice Fusion are just great at marketing. Granted, marketing a free product is easier than getting people to pony up money. It will be interesting to see if their revenue model is sustainable. The problem is that a doctor’s office won’t know if it’s sustainable. I’m still not sure I put my practice on the shoulders of an unproven model. At least not yet.