Electronic Health Reporter

Kareo, the leading provider of cloud-based software and services for independent medical practices, today announced the acquisition of DoctorBase, a practice marketing and patient communications solution. The deal complements Kareo’s existing offerings, which enable healthcare providers and their staff to successfully meet the business challenges associated with a rapidly changing healthcare market.

DoctorBase is an innovator in the emerging category of practice marketing and patient communications technology. The company’s offering helps doctors find new patients, foster their loyalty and manage existing relationships. Features offered by DoctorBase to help physicians achieve these goals include reputation management, online booking, appointment reminders, patient recall capabilities and mobile secure messaging. DoctorBase serves thousands of providers practicing in over 30 medical specialties across 42 states.

“By adding DoctorBase’s innovative solutions to the Kareo platform, independent medical practices will have the tools they need to attract new patients and manage relationships with their existing patients – keeping them ahead of competition such as that from large health systems and retail clinics,” said Dan Rodrigues, CEO of Kareo. “We’re excited that our solutions combined with DoctorBase’s functionality will provide patients with conveniences they have come to expect in other parts of their lives, such as online appointment booking and email and text appointment reminders.”

The combined Kareo and DoctorBase solution will allow patients to find a doctor, book an appointment online, and receive automated appointment reminders through their preferred communications channel including phone, email or text messages. During the actual visit, the practice captures the patient’s medical information and facilitates payment. After the visit, patients will receive automated communication including a patient satisfaction survey and a request to rate the physician online as well as encourage the patient to share their experience through social media sites such as Yelp, Google Local and others. The technology will also continue to nurture the patient over time through targeted communication to receive follow-up care, such as an annual physical, for example.

“Kareo’s mission to help independent practices succeed perfectly aligns with our goals,” according to John Sung Kim, founder and CEO of DoctorBase. “Kareo has been instrumental in helping thousands of doctors run their practices smarter. With our combined solutions, we’ll empower independent physicians to thrive in a dynamic market with changing consumer behavior.”

“For years, our practice has been using Kareo’s platform combined with DoctorBase’s patient engagement and practice marketing solutions to reduce administrative time while increasing referrals,” said John Browning, MD, of Texas Dermatology and Laser Specialists. “In our eyes, this is a logical combination. We’re eager to see how the two companies will work together to continue delivering innovative solutions that help independent practices, like ours, succeed.”

Practices can continue to purchase the practice marketing and patient communications features direct from DoctorBase with no change in pricing. Kareo will launch a limited availability, lightly integrated release in early Q2 with plans towards deeper integration with the Kareo solution in the second half of the year.