The Technology Update — January 4, 2017

Here’s a look at the latest news in practice management, electronic health record (EHR) and patient engagement technologies.

• Sikka Software recently launched its new free app called Practice Mobilizer® that provides practitioners, such as optometrists, with estimated arrival times for patients arriving within the hour. The estimated arrival times are based on driving directions and traffic flow, and also includes data on patients who will arrive early or late. The app reportedly connects to 96 percent of practice management systems on the market and is HIPAA and HITECH compliant.
• Demandforce has introduced Two-Way Texting for all its customers, allowing businesses a new way to respond immediately to client confirmations and text messages from within the Demandforce dashboard. The Two-Way Texting is reportedly an enhancement to the Demandforce platform, which already allows users to send appointment reminders via text, email and phone.
• Eye Care Leaders (ECL) has added Integrity EMR for Eyes to its suite of EHRs and practice solutions designed specifically for eye care. Integrity's EMR is reportedly a cloud-based software solution committed to excellence in ophthalmology, and helps complement ECL's other eye care solutions.
• MacPractice recently announced it was providing beta clients with with macOS Sierra and El Capitan compatible versions of macOS native MacPractice MD and 20/20 software. This reportedly makes it possible for MacPractice users who want or need new Macs to purchase them from Apple, as new Macs come with Sierra pre-installed.
• Real Time Medical recently announced the launch of DiaShare™ CloudQA — reportedly the first Canadian peer review subscription service for specialists such as ophthalmologists. Through the program, experts from across Canada can collaboratively and confidentially review each other's work by providing their diagnostic feedback, helping physicians improve their skills while providing quality assurance oversight to benefit patients.
• And CareCloud recently announced it had closed a $31.5 million fundraising cycle, bringing its total investment to more than $100 million. The company reportedly plans to use the funds to scale its team and cloud-based platform. CareCloud's software is reportedly tailored to medical groups focused on expanding operations.