Digital Assent, maker of the PatientPad self-service patient check-in and patient education solution, has announced the closing of a $2 million Series A round of equity financing it hopes will help its mission: to completely automate the patient intake process.

The funding allows Digital Assent, which was founded in 2009, to better execute on its strategic vision. Executives say that vision – making "the patient clipboard a thing of the past" – relies largely on this month's launch of a national campaign to sell and deploy the PatientPad to practices in all major U.S. metropolitan markets by the end of 2011.

With providers who use automated patient check-in solutions often seeing copay collection increase and insurance claim denials decrease by roughly 40 percent, their solution could be an attractive one for docs looking for ROI.

The financing is "critical to quickly establishing a national presence and rapidly expanding our point-of-care network," said Andrew Ibbotson, Digital Assent's president and CEO. "We believe the stellar reputations of our investors and their faith in Digital Assent is a testament to the work we've done so far, and to our future plans."

In the United States, patients make more than 1 billion doctor visits each year and currently less than 1 percent of medical practices have any kind of automated patient check-in solution. A combination of global and domestic trends suggest that the PatientPad is a timely and relevant solution, executives say, including the growing pervasiveness of self-service technologies in other markets, the exploding popularity of touch-screen devices  and roughly $36 billion in government incentives to implement electronic health record solutions.

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"This is an experienced team with the expertise and energy to fill a large and growing need," said Sig Mosely, president of Imlay Investments, who has made investments in more than 120 startups and private companies over the last two decades and is recognized for his leadership in building and growing the Georgia technology community. "We see great potential here."

Along with Imlay, two other angel investors, James Balloun and David McKenney, are part of Digital Assent's first round of financing. In addition, three new investors joined Digital Assent's initial round of financing. Fulcrum Equity Partners, BLH Venture Partners, and Mark Buffington of Buckhead Investment Partners all contributed to close out the $2 million Series A financing.

"We are proud to have raised capital that comes with proven strategic and operational guidance from these new partners, and we look forward to working with them to continue to grow our business," says Ibbotson.

"Not only does the PatientPad streamline the check-in process, it also provides pharmaceutical and health organizations a cost effective way to deliver targeted educational messaging directly to interested patients at the point-of-care," said Frank X. Dalton, general partner at Fulcrum Equity Partners. "We are pleased to be a part of this venture."

The $2 million financing has already allowed Digital Assent to make strides towards securing customers outside of the Southeast; in early January the team signed its first customers in New York, Ohio, Texas and south Florida. The company hopes to seek an additional $5 million to $10 million in funding through a Series B round of financing by year's end to grow the product footprint, add new revenue streams and expand into other healthcare disciplines.