EHR 24/7

Avantages

This software is very easy to use and the features are endless. I really like the fact that it's a cloud based system so I can log on to my EHR system and edit/view notes whether I'm at home, the office, or in a different country - this also becomes very useful when there are multiple providers using the system. The fillable fields are also very easy to customize and there is a feature where you can duplicate previous notes if the changes from visit to visit were minimal. This made notes SO EASY! Office Ally also partners with a 3rd party merchant service called World Pay. Their rates were the lowest I could find, the customer service was good, but more importantly, it allowed financial information to be directly routed into the Office Ally program for each patient. Very nice to keep everything within one program! A billing specialist friend also said that out of the many EHR systems she's worked with, Office Ally is the most user-friendly on the billing side of things. Other benefits - Office Ally doesn't costs much, so no big financial commitments up front with some of the other softwares, and you can cancel whenever with no penalty. Included in that monthly fee is an optional scheduling program (for admin staff to use) and a patient portal system. There is also an appointment reminder feature that you can pay extra for. BE CAREFUL if you work with World Pay though - they offer a 3-year minimum contract only, so there is a hefty fee if you cancel with them earlier then that.

Inconvénients

I thought that the patient portal wasn't very user-friendly. I found that it was difficult to get patients to comply with setting it up

My experience with EHR/ 24/7 has been very good. I help set practitioners up with this software all the time. What I do is create a template from speaking with the providers and then have them submit it to Office Ally and go through the set-up that way. This method allows the providers to really personalize the categories and wording to their office and specialty. Thumbs up Office Ally you have made this program very easy to set-up, use and personalize.
Data entry during a visit is very smooth once you get the initial programming of your common phrases saved. This speeds up the provider's data entry time considerably and allows more time with their patients.

Avantages

I like the simplicity of Office Ally. It is very easy to use for scheduling your patient, managing their electronic health record with easy to use templates and following the electronic billing process.

Inconvénients

The only thing I would add to Office Ally after using it for 8 years plus, would be the ability to print out a patient ledger with the provider's name, address and phone number at the top. If there isn't a balance due on the account the statements won't include the visits dso the only option for me to print a form that our patients need for their HSA and FSA accounting is the patient ledger. If you print a superbill at the time of service it will be inclusive of all these things but the aftercare for financials is where this pops up. Other than this one little thing I am very happy with Office Ally and you can't beat the pricing!

Avantages

It's so easy to use and it's free!!!! Submitting claims is very simple. If there are any issues with my claims resolving them only takes a couple steps. I can see everything I need to for each claim saving me lots of time. I no longer have to spend time on the phone with insurance companies I can just see what the errors are on my claims and correct them easily and resubmit without any hassle. They offer free support anytime I have any questions, there's always somebody there to assist me. The interface is very user-friendly I have tried other software programs and they're interfaces were outdated and difficult to understand. I have enjoyed office alley so much that I have actually purchased their EHR/24 system and I also use their practice mate, reminder mate, and patient ally Modules as well. It makes managing our 13 therapist practice very manageable.

Inconvénients

because the system is web-based if there are any technical difficulties or updates taking place it prevents us from completing our work online at that time but this has rarely been an issue.

It would be nice to have a phone or tablet application when being away from the computer for easier access to appointments and patient records.

Ce que je conseille

I've looked at several software programs and one thing I would recommend taking into account aside from the cost is the ease of using the system. Many of the therapists in our practice including myself are not technologically sophisticated so having something simple with technical support was very important for us and determining what system to use.

Avantages

Office Ally functions as 2 products, EHR & a clearing house for insurance claims. As an EHR it works sufficiently. As an insurance claims clearing house it is outstanding. Office Ally works independently with different EHRs online and can be calibrated to accept claims directly from the EHR you use. It takes a few phone calls to your EHR and see if Office Ally clearing house is available. If your EHR does not calibrate to Office Ally, you can set up an account independently with them and login to file claims via the Office Ally website.

Another positive as a clearing house is if the claims are for private insurance like Blue Cross, Aetna etc. it will cost the provider nothing. If the provider is submitting claims for medicaid recipients they have a one a month fee. This all depends on the provider and who they accept as a client.

Inconvénients

The user interface on Office Ally is slightly confusing. A user can get confused at times because the options the user interface gives is a tad overwhelming. Another downside is the rejection codes they hand out. The good side though is you can call Office Ally up and they will guide you through the codes and issues.

I have been, sadly, an Office Ally client for about the past six years. The only reason I'm still with them is because they make it too difficult to leave: they'll pack your client demographic information not the progress notes should you wish to migrate to another EHR/PM service. Customer Service / Tech Support is a joke; they're mostly just gatekeepers who will do everything they can to convince you that a technical issue is something on your end and not theirs.

Here are some examples of what I;'m talking about....

1. Patient Ally, their feature that allegedly allows clients and their patients to swap documents in a HIPAA-secured environment, more often than not fails to properly function. I've tried to send documents to my clients, and vice-versa, and they cannot be retrieved. When I complained about this, the "tech support" person tried to slough it off as a problem with either my computer or my client's His argument was that "if large numbers of our customers aren't complaining about this, then it's not a problem." I now use Adobe Cloud instead.

2. When using the accounting and claims management features in their practice management platform, Practice Mate, in order to post payments to a deactivated client account, I have to re-activate it, post the payments, then de-activate it again, which is a time-waster and unnecessary. When I addressed this with tech support, his unbelievable answer was: "Well the LOGIC is that if you're no longer seeing a client, then you won't be taking any more payments on their account." I had to explain to him that managed care can take weeks or months to pay claims, and also that some discharged clients owe past-due balances. His response was dead air.

3. The EHR platform has a penchant for bumping you off AS YOU'RE WORKING IN A CHART, which means you lose all the data and have to log back in and recreate it. This usually happens between 5-7 pm EST. The two times I reported this to "tech support," they told me it was probably my computer or my ISP and it wasn't their problem, again, because tens of thousands of other Office Ally users hadn't complained about it.

Yeah, the cost is low, but if you're a sole practitioner like me, without so much as a receptionist, these inefficiencies can cost you in time and money.

Avantages

Relatively easy to use.Fairly good integration between EHR and Practice Mate.

Inconvénients

1. Many of the features don't work properly. 2. Some functions are not the most efficient and actually waste end users' time. 3. "Tech Support are mostly gatekeepers. When you call to report a problem, their typical response is that if thousands of other users haven't already called to report the same issue, then it must be your fault and not theirs. They also refuse to let you speak to a supervisor or manager, their typical excuse being "They're all in a meeting." They claim to write "job tickets" and promise a callback, but of course they never call back and the issue is rarely resolved.