EMR Recommendations

[apollofx]

As the title suggests I am looking for some recommendations regarding an EMR for a two physician practice possibly in conjunction with a billing service. I am interested in PracticeFusion but understand they are now switching to a subscription model and I have some experience with TrakNet but have never really been impressed. I like the idea of a cloud based system with remote access, limited hardware needs and lower startup cost.

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[ldsrmdude]

As the title suggests I am looking for some recommendations regarding an EMR for a two physician practice possibly in conjunction with a billing service. I am interested in PracticeFusion but understand they are now switching to a subscription model and I have some experience with TrakNet but have never really been impressed. I like the idea of a cloud based system with remote access, limited hardware needs and lower startup cost.

I don’t have experience with PracticeFusion, but I used TrakNet for almost 2 years and nearly cried tears of joy when I stopped having to use it.
There are some good discussions of EMR options in the practicing physicians forum if you want to check it out

 

[NatCh]

The cloud-based system is really nice since you don't have to pay directly for updates and maintenance. One drawback though is that when your internet goes down so does your access to your notes. I've been able to access my charts through my iPhone using cellular connection in a pinch.

Practice Fusion is mostly compatible with Dragon voice recognition if you want to go that route but there's a weird glitch that causes the cursor to jump, messing up your formatting. If you don't catch it while you're dictating then your note will be off by a letter.

 

[Superlarson5]

PracticeFusion is no longer free. The ones I like are NoshEMR and Solismed.

 

[dtrack22]

Isn’t practicefusion only like $100 per month? Anything that is free is going to end up costing you at some point. No EHR that can keep up with ICD changes, MIPS crap, etc. will be free forever. Eventually they have to charge you.

Modernizing Medicine has an EHR that has been customized for a few different specialties. Started with and is very big in Derm I believe. There’s a poster here who can probably tell you more about it if he reads this.

https://www.modmed.com/orthopedics-ehr/

 

[spo01]

I don’t have experience with PracticeFusion, but I used TrakNet for almost 2 years and nearly cried tears of joy when I stopped having to use it.
There are some good discussions of EMR options in the practicing physicians forum if you want to check it out

Just curious what did you not like about TrakNet? This is what I use in the office now.


OP, I use Traknet for office work and officeally for housecalls but have switched from many other EMR. I am surprised at how much I like office ally. It's cheap/free and fairly easy to navigate but I have a very low volume for the house calls. This is probably not your best option for large offices but I can't say for sure. My biggest complaint by far with officeally is that it only allows a certain amount of characters when you do your note and it separates all the components of the SOAP note. I have generic templates saved in a word document. If I have a new patient I have the S.O.A.P. and ROS etc all in that one template so I normally would simply highlight all of it and paste it as one giant note. Office ally does not allow me to do this. It automatically separates all those sections. You can't just create your own template in the system and paste it but you can't because there is a 2000 character limit! So I have to copy my HPI, ROS, PE, plan, etc one by one from my word document to officeally. It's time consuming when you have a lot of new patients. My objective and plan are both over 2000 characters, so again I have to divide my template into 2-3 parts to copy and paste it.

Traknet is decent and I've grown to like it. My biggest complaint by far is the loading b/w each section, the frames would come up one by one by one. I am a tech junkie and man of speed with my notes and it was very frustrating clicking from the visit note to the diagnosis to the invoice. The other doctors here like it and this didn't bother them. We have had other glitches but they are not too often. Other than that it's pretty good.

I used Epic during residency and it was epic. Loved it. The smart phrases/dot phases alone made it worth it. Problem is it is ridiculously expensive and used mainly for large groups and hospitals.

I don't know the exact details but we quit using Athena as it screwed up our payments BIG TIME and put us in a horrible financial situation. I got a text 3 months later from my friend in another state writing "avoid Athena like the plague". That same guy switched to meditouch by healthfusion and said it's better than Athena, but not necessarily enough to make him recommended it to friends.

Advancedmd was ok but apparently the owner felt it was too slow for reimbursements so we switched.

 

[ldsrmdude]

Just curious what did you not like about TrakNet? This is what I use in the office now.

Looking back, some of it is not really TrakNets fault. There was definitely some hostility towards the job being reflected in my dislike of the EMR.

I used Epic for the last 1 1/2 years during residency and I think some of my frustration was that TrakNet isn't as easy to use as Epic, specifically with the smart phrases and dot phrases. I got really good at those because we used Epic in clinic as well. TrakNet didn't have those phrases and to me, seemed just like you opened a blank Word document with each patient. I did make templates and they helped, but it still looked just like typing your note in Microsoft Word. TrakNet also had ads every time I logged on, trying to get me to buy additional services they offer. I thought having ads on your homepage of your EMR was pretty low class. Coming from Epic, it just had a cheaper and less up to date feel. We only used it for the EMR and didn't do billing/coding with it. I also thought it was expensive for what you got. I can't remember what it cost (maybe $300 per month per provider?) but I didn't think it was worth it. We constantly seemed to have technical difficulties with it.

All in all, it worked I guess. And like I said, some of the dislike of my job certainly tainted my opinion of the EMR. I currently use Cerner Powerchart in clinic and Epic depending on which hospital I'm at. We'll be switching to Epic in clinic sometime in the year or two and all of the surrounding hospitals are switching to, or have already switched to Epic.

 

[DYK343]

I don't know the exact details but we quit using Athena as it screwed up our payments BIG TIME and put us in a horrible financial situation. I got a text 3 months later from my friend in another state writing "avoid Athena like the plague".

It's seriously the worst.... I think it actually is the plague.

 

[Scrantonicity]

Switched to Athena a little over a year ago---I really like it a lot. Just like everything, takes a little time to get set up and get your templates just right, but I think it's the most user-friendly cloud based system I've seen. I can do about 40-50 notes an hour if I'm behind and catching up, if that gives you an idea I've been teaching our girls at the office how to scribe with it (so I don't get behind), and they are picking it up quickly.

 

[Carbon13]

Switched to Athena a little over a year ago---I really like it a lot. Just like everything, takes a little time to get set up and get your templates just right, but I think it's the most user-friendly cloud based system I've seen. I can do about 40-50 notes an hour if I'm behind and catching up, if that gives you an idea I've been teaching our girls at the office how to scribe with it (so I don't get behind), and they are picking it up quickly.

As comparison, what other EMR have you used ?
I've only used TrakNet / Epic / Cerner.

 

[Scrantonicity]

As comparison, what other EMR have you used ?
I've only used TrakNet / Epic / Cerner.

I've used Practice Fusion, Greenway (Success EHS), Meditouch, and I've messed with Traknet some.

As for the people above posting about avoiding Athena like the plague, I haven't had any of those issues up to this point (knock on wood). Their customer service is excellent. We hired a billing specialist that helps to make sure all of our claims get through, so maybe that's key.

 

[DYK343]

I've used Practice Fusion, Greenway (Success EHS), Meditouch, and I've messed with Traknet some.

As for the people above posting about avoiding Athena like the plague, I haven't had any of those issues up to this point (knock on wood). Their customer service is excellent. We hired a billing specialist that helps to make sure all of our claims get through, so maybe that's key.

You must be an athena rep. Because it is seriously the absolute worst system there is.

 

[Scrantonicity]

You must be an athena rep. Because it is seriously the absolute worst system there is.

Haha! No, I'm a podiatrist who has tried other crappier software before. Are you a rep for a different EMR??? You haven't said one reason why it's the worst system. Maybe you didn't make good templates? I dunno, man. Please elaborate, and I can see if I am missing something.

 

[DYK343]

Haha! No, I'm a podiatrist who has tried other crappier software before. Are you a rep for a different EMR??? You haven't said one reason why it's the worst system. Maybe you didn't make good templates? I dunno, man. Please elaborate, and I can see if I am missing something.

One size fits all templates. Billing nightmares. Constant errors with reporting labs and data. Athena sends me randon exams for patients Ive never treated or seen. I send it back to them saying they are not my patient and I did not order this exam/I do not treat this problem only to have them resend the CT abdomen back to me with basically a message telling me to figure it out. Complaints can go on and on and on......

Stay clear of Athena. It's the worst.

 

[toomanytoes]

Practice EHR - not a big fan, they don't give 100% control over your note since certain things are pre populated and you can't change it. Customer service is ok. When you ask for help, they give generic answers. I have had issues where multiple patients' information from notes carried over to some other patients' note when you try to switch in between patients. Gets slower during the day, I have to log in multiple times to bring it back to normal speed.

Epic was great during residency but expensive for small practice.

I used this for more reviews for other emr. The Top 20 Most Popular EMR Software Solutions | Capterra

 

[Scrantonicity]

One size fits all templates. Billing nightmares. Constant errors with reporting labs and data. Athena sends me randon exams for patients Ive never treated or seen. I send it back to them saying they are not my patient and I did not order this exam/I do not treat this problem only to have them resend the CT abdomen back to me with basically a message telling me to figure it out. Complaints can go on and on and on......

Stay clear of Athena. It's the worst.

I have had maybe one or two instances of lab reporting errors, so I'll agree with that.

"One size fits all templates"? I don't know what that means--I've created about 200 templates. If I am doing a nail procedure, I literally click twice after selecting the appropriate reason for the visit--the note is done as well as the superbill in less than 5 seconds. I have templates for just about every condition you can think of--took me a few hours to make them, but they are amazing time savers. Maybe you didn't know how to make them? It took me a while to figure it out, so there was definitely a learning curve. I'm currently the only one in the practice that took the time to learn, so I make them for everyone.

Anyways, I have yet to encounter any of the other issues. I'm not trying to convince you to switch back (as if you would haha). I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something---and you clearly had a different experience than I'm having. Anyways...enough on Athena. Just saying I would highly recommend it based on my own experience.

 

[CutsWithFury]

I use EClinical works for clinic and meditech for hospital consults and for surgery op reports. Both suck terribly. Too much clicking to just get through a note.

I used EPIC in residency. EPIC was the best and easy to use. it auto populated everything I needed with a couple pre plugged in data formulas and I could just addend the plan specific to the encounter. It was a beautiful thing.

 

[air bud]

Old thread, but wanted to keep in correct spot - Anyone use mod med? I think that they have a podiatry version. We are looking at getting the Ortho version. Currently use phoenix ortho which is absolutely terrible. Mad I spend 11k for a license and then we are ditching it 1.5 years later, but will be worth it to get rid of it...

 

[dtrack22]

Old thread, but wanted to keep in correct spot - Anyone use mod med? I think that they have a podiatry version. We are looking at getting the Ortho version. Currently use phoenix ortho which is absolutely terrible. Mad I spend 11k for a license and then we are ditching it 1.5 years later, but will be worth it to get rid of it...

Mod med is spendy per month but I am still convinced you can save the money elsewhere depending on how you staff and what you pay for billing services. It’s fairly intuitive. I used the ortho version (podiatry didn’t exist) and then I beta’d the podiatry for them and met with them weekly to work on issues with it. The biggest issue I had was dumb podiatry stuff we do that complicates billing that no other specialty has to deal with. Mostly routine foot care issues. It’s great for MSK pathology. Wound care was even good too, other than some of the skin sub billing stuff that had to be entered manually. You do have to learn “how” the system thinks or how it determines what to populate and it’s faster if you use “protocols” which is basically their term for templates. But it’s smart, and learns as you go. So if you’re always selecting an injection with plantar fasciitis dx then it will start putting that button up top when you are looking at the treatment section. It’s iPad based and you have the ability to touch buttons and anatomic diagrams to populate dx, location, treatment plans (all pre written by mod med but can be customized by you on the back end) or you can dictate/free type whatever you want. It’s the best EMR system I’ve used in an outpatient clinic setting, but podiatrists will generally **** on it because it isn’t free or $100 but then they’ll get a scribe and give 7% of collections to a billing company…

Their biggest problem is they’ve gotten too big, too fast. I haven’t used them for a year now and they still haven’t cut off my access to the EMR. They tried charging for some education stuff that was being comped because I was testing the podiatry version, I created a ticket to get the charge removed, that was last July and I haven’t heard a word from them since. They are understaffed from a billing standpoint (on your account, not the patient claims you bill) and I’ve heard it’s creeping into the education/training part of the company. But it’s a really slick system once you learn to use it and optimize it.