Augmedix — a health care startup company based in San Francisco — created an application for Google Glass that enters data into the electronic health record in real-time during a doctor visit. This week, the company announced that it's now one of five companies to become a Glass at Work Certified Partner, meaning they are allowed to distribute applications for Glass.

To use the service, the physician launches the application before an exam and the audio and visual information from the exam is streamed into Glass. Technology and human resources are used to transfer the data into the patient's EHR. The physician can also access patient data and search information, including the patient's last three blood pressure tests, by making a verbal request.

“Augmedix reclaims the majority of the time that would otherwise be spent feeding the beast," Ian Shakil, CEO of Augmedix, said in a statement.

In March, the company received $3.2 million in venture funding from its partners — DCM and Emergence Capital Partners. This week, the company announced that it raised $7.3 million. The funding will allow the company to increase its expansion with Dignity Health and other provider groups in the U.S.

Dignity Health has partnered with Augmedix and Google Glass and it just released the findings of a pilot study done in January at its Ventura Medical Clinic. The study included three family practice physicians who have had more than 2,700 patient visits.

The physicians reported that there was a decrease — 33 percent to 9 percent — in the amount of time they spent entering data into EHRs. Additionally, there was an increase — 35 percent to 70 percent — in direct patient care.

“To provide quality patient care, the ability to listen and communicate is just as important as the diagnosis,” said Dr. Davin Lundquist, family medicine practitioner and Dignity Health’s chief medical information officer. “Google Glass + Augmedix allows me to spend more focused time with my patients, giving me the opportunity to assess what they are telling me more closely without the distraction of having to enter information into a computer.”

Although the device can only run the Augmedix application, so it can't get onto the Internet or any other applications and the information that streams into it is isolated to a dedicated, encrypted network, patients still might be concerned about privacy.

To alleviate that, the medical staff notifies the patients about Glass and how it's going to be used, and the patient has final say in whether or not it's used.

Dignity Health stated that, as of this month, less than 1 percent of patients asked for Glass to be removed during the visit.

“Patient acceptance and satisfaction has been resoundingly high throughout the country — from San Francisco to rural areas,” Shakil said in a statement.

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