A Seattle startup, BloomAPI, seeks to phase out fax machines in healthcare settings by allowing physicians to safely send medical records directly from one computer to another regardless of incompatible EMR systems, according to the Seattle Times.
Since many EMR systems are incompatible, healthcare organizations still rely heavily on fax machines to share patient's medical records. BloomAPI hopes to modernize how medical records are shared between health systems, since faxes are error prone.
BloomAPI acts as a mediator between healthcare computer systems, using software that can connect to almost any record system. The startup ensures each office has privacy permissions to send and receive records and that the records have been transferred correctly. The records then appear directly into the EMR system the receiving clinic uses.
The startup was founded by Michael Wasser and raised $2.4 million last week to fund ongoing operations. The funds will be used to hire engineers and sales employees to meet product demands for larger clinics.