Practice Fusion is having a big 2014 — 122 new clients so far

Practice Fusion, a quickly-growing electronic health records and health data provider, has been having a good year.

The San Francisco-based company says it’s already signed up 122 new health organization clients since the start of 2014.

These clients, Practice Fusion says, include health systems, hospitals, independent clinical labs, and imaging centers.

The VC-backed startup has now signed up 440 healthcare enterprises as customers. Customers pay fees for data transmission, care coordination, and population health management services.

Practice Fusion has found especially good traction with hospital and independent labs. A total of 364 labs across the country have connected to its platform.

“Delivering this connectivity in ambulatory medical practice settings is critical,” said Practice Fusion CEO Ryan Howard in a statement. “Since clinical lab results guide 70 percent of medical decisions made by healthcare providers, the connections that Practice Fusion enables can help ensure that the necessary players have the information they need from laboratory tests, CT scans, X-rays, and more to deliver critical patient care.”

Practice Fusion began as a provider of free electronic health records (with an option to upgrade to a premium, ad-free product). After building its user base and its cache of clinical data, the company launched a large health database called “Insight.” Some of the (anonymized) data in the database is free to access, while more specialized data sets are accessed for a cost. A drug company might pay to access information about prescribing habits of doctors across the country, for instance.

The company struggled until the 2008 passage of the Affordable Care Act, a part of which set up incentives for health providers to adopt electronic health records systems. That event raised Practice Fusion’s appeal in the eyes of investors.

Since then, Practice Fusion has raised $155 million in venture capital, and its name is often bandied about in conversations about digital health company IPO contenders.

“When we invested in Practice Fusion, digital health was at a tipping point. It was clear to us that Practice Fusion had the potential to be a true disruptor and to generate significant revenue,” Beth Seidenberg, MD, a general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, said in a statement.

“The progress since the start of the year proves that Practice Fusion is a long-term player that can transform the healthcare ecosystem while staying true to its mission of bringing together physicians, patients, and other healthcare participants to improve patient outcomes and save lives,” she said.