EHRs and digital health innovation attracting capital

Everyone knows that the number of EHR vendors bidding for your business has gone through the roof in recent times. In fact, there's at least 300 EHR vendors out there today, according to one commonly-used estimate. In fact, some pundits argue that the true number may be much higher, particularly if you count companies that develop software which handles only one part of an EHR's core functions.

Not only that, when it comes to "digital health" -- a broader term which takes in anything from EHRs to telemedicine to connected health/remote patient monitoring to health-based social media ventures -- things get even more interesting. According to a recent report by Rock  Health, digital health is just beginning to explode, notes EHRbloggers, a blog sponsored by EHR vendor Practice Fusion.

In fact, investors are throwing cash at such ventures, according to Rock Health's data, which was drawn from Capital IQ, Crunch Base and other firms. (That includes Practice Fusion, which has itself racked up $23 million in venture funding.)

Venture capital funding of healthcare technology has cranked itself up from 52 deals in 2005 to 138 deals last year. According to the blog, more than 70 percent of VCs expect health IT deal flow seems to climb even higher this year.

So, why are we bothering telling you this, other than to let you know were some healthcare cash is going?  Well, think of it this way: whether you use social media, patient portals, remote monitoring and the like, they're going to have an impact on how EHRs are developed, how they're used and how they connect you with patients.

If you're looking for a glimpse of digital medicine's future, keep an eye on these terms:

* Health 2.0
* Connected health
* Remote monitoring
* E-visits
* Patient portals

I plan to keep a close eye on health IT investments like these. We're not talking boring spending on routers and wires and thingamagigs -- we're talking about ventures that could change the shape of medical practice overall even if you manage to skip the EHR thing entirely. (Which most of you won't, of course.) Consider yourself warned.

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