Ryan Howard – Practice Fusion's CEO and Chairman
In 2005, Ryan Howard left a career in technology to found Practice Fusion. He was 30 years old and had seen first-hand serious issues in that health IT sector at the time. Ryan was determined to use his background in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), integration, health IT and business to do something he really cared about; to create an Electronic Health Record vastly different from anything else on the market and with the potential to fundamentally improve US healthcare.
It wasn't easy in the beginning. To support Practice Fusion in the early days, Ryan sold his house in San Francisco and then his BMW (SF Chronicle profile, WSJ profile). He built a team of experts who understood his vision for health IT.
Practice Fusion grew rapidly as a free and web-based EHR in a market dominated by $50,000+ legacy systems. Enthusiastic doctors, especially those in small practices, helped spread the word. Practice Fusion has attracted the attention of prominent investors such as Founders Fund and Artis Capital Management.
Now, Practice Fusion is the largest and fastest growing EHR in the country. Ryan Howard exemplifies the new breed of health IT leaders revolutionizing the doctor's office. Young, energetic and changing the status quo, Ryan continues to lead Practice Fusion as CEO and Chairman.
Click here to view Ryan's DC to VC presentation.
About Ryan Howard
- Title: Chairman and CEO
- Joined Practice Fusion: 2005, Founder
- Hometown: New Hampshire
- Education: University of New Hampshire, Saint Mary's College and Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley
- Outside of the office: Riding his Ducati, Shaolin-Kempo
- Passionate about: The ability for EHR systems to reduce medical errors, make healthcare more efficient and improve public health
- Expertise: Electronic medical records, health IT, medical practices, SaaS, enterprise application integration (EAI), medical errors, patient safety, HIPAA, venture capital, growing a start-up, management techniques
Ryan Howard said:
Companies whose software lets medical providers ditch paper are racing to ensure that doctors and hospitals using their programs can meet the new criteria. "The bar that has been set by the new guidelines is high," says Ryan Howard, CEO of Practice Fusion (AOL )
When information's held in clouds, providers are shielded from many of the quirks that affect local systems, including hardware failure and system crashes, according to Ryan Howard, CEO of Practice Fusion, a Web-based EHR vendor. "With cloud computing, you can go to any computer with an Internet connection and log in to the system immediately," he explained. "We had a practice whose office burned down; they were up and charting the next day from a hotel room" (Advance)
"Practice Fusion continues to innovate in the healthcare market by offering a free Web-based PHR that is an extension of the practitioners' EHR. We're unlocking the physician EHR to give patients access and control over their own health data," said Ryan Howard, the CEO of Practice Fusion." (O'Reilly Radar)
And at Practice Fusion, a start-up offering Web-based patient records free to physicians, supported by online advertising, the government program has prompted a surge of interest, said Ryan Howard, the chief executive. (New York Times)