It was only a matter of time until medical records got the on-demand treatment. Practice Fusion (http://www.practicefusion.com), a San Francisco-based startup, is offering a software-as-a-service model for doctors and other medical practitioners to track patient care, submit insurance claims, and make referrals to other doctors. There are plenty of other companies that offer this kind of digital service. The difference, says Ryan Howard, the CEO of Practice Fusion, is that he is offering his service free, while competitors like Misys and NextGen charge up to $20,000.

Mr. Howard, who worked for Halsey Minor, the founder of CNet, on his Grand Central venture, says his system, which is still in the early stage, serves up ads to a very desirable audience of high-income doctors and other health practitioners. There is a viral aspect that he hopes will spread use of the product. He can make referrals to doctors who don't use his system but who can quickly enroll for the browser-based product.

I expressed my impression that doctors haven't rushed to embrace electronic medical records or EMRs. It's not because they're technophobes, says Mr. Howard. "A lot of these guys have had Palm Pilots for a decade." He says the real problem is that they are flooded with sales pitches. "They’re sold more stuff than anyone in the market so they don’t want to pay for anything." Hence his approach, which he says has more than 500 customers so far handling 100,000 patient records, all within the HIPAA privacy standards.

Mr. Howard is in fund-raising mode, hoping to snag $10 million from VCs to blow out his product. With doctors concerned about rising costs and the growing difficulties of collecting from insurers, Practice Fusion may be in the right place at the right price.