Practice Fusion buys mobile health startup 100Plus to power patient tools with clinical data

Electronic health records provider Practice Fusion is bringing in some new blood. On Wednesday, the San Francisco-based company said it made its first major acquisition in purchasing 100Plus, a personal health prediction startup.

Founded in 2011, 100Plus last month launched a mobile app that combines data analytics and game mechanics to encourage people to take healthier steps.

In the acquisition, 100Plus’ five-person team will join Practice Fusion’s data and product development teams, with Chris Hogg, co-founder of 100Plus, becoming the associate vice president of data science.

Ryan Howard, Practice Fusion’s CEO, who is also a co-founder of 100Plus, said he and Hogg first met a couple of years ago when Practice Fusion challenged about 50 teams to hack deidentified patient records to come up with interesting applications. Hogg created a tool that found patients’ “health twins” and then predicted their future health based on the trajectories of those twins – an application not so unlike 100Plus, which similarly generates health predictions based on datasets, from sources like 100Plus and the CDC, and user behavior.

Practice Fusion, which entrepreneurs fingered as the health tech startup most likely to hit a $ 1 billion valuation in the next five years in a recent survey, offers doctors’ offices free electronic medical records software but plans to build out patient-facing consumer applications.

“We’ll be launching other consumer apps and we see 100Plus as dovetailing beautifully with that,” said Howard, adding that while the 100Plus app will continue to exist in its current form, they’re not sure if it will be a standalone app or live within the Practice Fusion umbrella.

Although older companies like eClinicalWorks and AllScripts dominate the electronic health records industry, Practice Fusion offers doctors a free version of what can be expensive software (its paid for with advertising) and its plan has been to out-innovate rivals. With 100Plus, it could give patients a mobile app that feels more like a consumer app than a clinical tool to facilitate communication with doctors. For example, with beautiful photography and fun language, the app currently prompts users to “drink more water” or “walk your neighborhood” and Howard said those prompts could ultimately come from doctors through Practice Fusion.