Augmedix, a San Francisco-based EHR (electronic health record) company, has raised $17 million to incorporate Google Glass into its product, TechCrunch is reporting. Separately, BioBeats, which has a biometrics coaching app, says it’s raised $2.25 million.
Augmedix has an interesting model. A common complaint about AR visors in social situations is that they distract the focus of a personal interaction from the person you’re talking to. Augmedix argues that the EHR is already a distraction, putting the focus not on the patient but on the doctor’s computer; by using Google Glass to help create the EHR, the doctor is interacting better with his patient.
Glass, now long gone f
or consumers, is still not officially available for enterprise customers, and Augmedix officials say they are looking at other AR and even VR platforms — although it’s not clear how VR would improve a doctor-patient interaction in an in-person clinical setting.
BioBeats publishes the iOS app “Hear and Now,” which collects biometric information from existing wearables and makes coaching suggestions. The funding, the company says, will be used to move the product into corporate markets.
