Epocrates has acquired fellow mobile health app company Modality to expand its offerings on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Epocrates,
a leading maker of mobile medical software, has acquired health app developer
Modality to grow its portfolio on the Apple iOS.
Modality makes digital learning and reference applications for the iPad,
iPhone and iPod Touch and has expertise in developing health education apps on
Apple's iOS, with more than 140 applications on that platform. Epocrates
announced its acquisition of Modality on Nov. 16.
"We
have the trust of more than 1 million health care professionals, and with
Modality, a richer, advanced Apple development expertise," Epocrates CEO
Rose Crane said in a statement. "Together, we will cultivate even more
cutting-edge and indispensable apps for clinicians that directly impact patient
care."
By
acquiring Modality, Epocrates hopes to increase both the number of mobile
health apps and their reach to additional devices and ensure that doctors have
the mobile app resources available at the patient's bedside.
"As
a leader in providing technology solutions, we have a tremendous responsibility
to amplify our development efforts that support clinicians' daily workflow and
meet their information needs," Crane said.
As
a first initiative with Modality under Epocrates' umbrella, the newly merged company
will develop multimedia health apps for the iPad, which is becoming
increasingly popular in the health care field.
Mobile
management software provider
Good
Technology released a study showing that health care is one of the top
three industries using the iPad.
Of iPad deployments, financial services comprised 36 percent, the high-tech
sector made up 11.4 percent and the health care industry accounted for 10.5
percent. Companies such as
ClearPractice
and
WebMD
have recently unveiled health apps on the iPad.
Epocrates
apps are also available on the BlackBerry, Palm, Android, Windows and Mobile.
You can also access the Epocrates apps as a Web service.
Components
of Epocrates apps include a drug interaction checker, coding reference, a
medical dictionary, diagnostic lab tests and a disease-treatment guide.
Epocrates
add-on apps offer calculators for BMI (body
mass index) and medication doses as well as risk assessments for high
cholesterol, heart failure and breast cancer.
Modality
offers a free app for the iPad called ModalityBody. In ModalityBody, electronic
flash cards allow mobile users to learn parts of the anatomy-including muscles,
tissue, tendons and joints-on a clinical level.
Medical
publishers such as Elsevier and McGraw-Hill develop educational content for
Modality's mobile health apps. One such application, Wheater's Q&A Review
of Histology & Basic Pathology, allows users to view 325 images of tissue
and pan and zoom using the touch-screen capabilities of the iPhone and iPod
Touch.
"Transforming best-in-breed content from the world's largest medical
publishers into engaging and powerful mobile user experiences has been our
focus for years," S. Mark Williams, Modality's founder and CEO,
said in a statement.
"The speed and ease with which a health care professional or medical
student is able to access vetted information can make a profound difference in
fostering higher levels of engagement among a target user base. We look forward
to leveraging Modality's proven approach to application design in expanding and
enhancing the solutions available to the extensive Epocrates network."
On
Oct. 20, Epocrates announced that it will
link
its mobile apps to Walgreens' discount medication list to try to get
patients to follow through on filling medication.
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