Roseland, New Jersey-based Epion Health raised $4.5 million in an investment led by investment firm Deerfield Management Company for its iPad-based patient check-in tool.

Epion Health was in Healthbox's second Boston class, backed by Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts.

Staff at physician practices can use the tool in place of paper-based registration forms -- contact information, consent, and health history information -- and to collect payments with a credit card reader that is built in to the casing around the iPad. The check-in software also includes quality surveys, health risk assessments, and pre-loaded personalized messages from their providers, which they can review in the waiting room pre-appointment. The company provides healthcare organizations with the iPads, which they lock down into a kiosk mode that prevents patients from using apps besides Epion's. 

"The big picture is that we replace clip boards and paper forms in healthcare facilities with an iPad solution so when a patient comes in, instead of being handed a stack of papers and a pen with a clipboard, the receptionist is handing the patient an iPad, which is integrated with the backend electronic medical record and practice medicine systems," Epion Health CEO Joe Blewitt told MobiHealthNews. "We are basically presenting the patient the data that's in the system for them that already exists, [while] also gathering additional data for that appointment and/or just to update the record and add additional information."

In April, Epion Health announced its first partner, electronic health record company athenahealth. Through this partnership, Epion Health's software is now available as an add-on service that is promoted to athenahealth providers. Monthly pricing for the software is based on the number of providers in the practice -- larger practices pay less per provider.

Moving forward, Epion plans to partner with other large healthcare systems and integrate their software with different electronic medical records. While there are other companies that have similar offerings, Blewitt said Epion Health's business model is not focused on advertising revenue, which he says is a welcome experience for providers.

"We are pretty much 100 percent aligned with providers, so we’re not an advertising platform, and I think pretty much all our competitors are," Blewitt said. "So we're not looking to sell direct to consumer advertising for pharmaceutical companies or potentially provide information that physicians aren't on board with. Our first alignment is with the providers and also to provide value to patients."

Moving forward, the company is working on building out its patient engagement tools and working closely with providers to refine them.