Author Topic: Office Ally  (Read 26234 times)

PMRNC

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Office Ally
« on: March 24, 2013, 05:16:44 PM »
Well it looks like kareo is not the only one getting or having now a billing service of their own. The more I think about this the more it bothers me..   I now heard OfficeAlly has their own billing company too. Anyone using them that knows if they are providing any type of non-compete, disclosures, promises not to solicit billing company clients?   Is this to be the new trend?
Linda Walker
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RichardP

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2013, 12:07:34 AM »
They've had a billing program since the end of 2010.

http://www.officeally.com/files/Billing_Service_Press_Release.pdf

For doctors who are already using the Office Ally EHR, and who are already entering the DX and CPT codes into the EHR, it is not that big a deal for someone at Office Ally to connect the codes and send them off to the Office Ally clearinghouse.  That simplifies life for doctors with small practices who do uncomplicated billing.  This is probably the direction that medical billing is headed, for simple billing needs.  Office Ally Billing, Kareo Billing, and Practice Fusion Billing (they don't have a billing department, but have billing partners, including Kareo).

http://www.practicefusion.com/pages/medical_billing.html

QueenAlicia

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2013, 04:08:04 PM »
Practice Fusion will be having their own billing option soon.  They will continue to work with Kareo but since Kareo has raised their prices they are seeking new vendors.

PMRNC

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2013, 06:54:59 PM »
There isn't enough money in the world for me to get into the development of PM software. It's an ONGOING commitment among a doggie dog industry.
Linda Walker
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gurumedbill

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2013, 03:01:19 PM »
Billergirlnyc,

I'm very curious as to what you need from a software that you can't already get.  How could developing your own software possibly save you any money?  More power to you if you can do it I just can't fathom how that makes any sense.  Good luck I guess.


To everyone,

I think there are a lot of companies that will probably never get into billing because that is not really their thing.  I'd be curious to know all the companies that have billing companies now.  So far we have Kareo which is new to it and Office Ally that has been around for a while.  I'll add Optum Insight (Caretracker) to the list as well as Athena.  If anyone can put others in it would be interesting to see as complete of a list as we can get.

Medical Billing Forum

Re: Office Ally
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2013, 03:01:19 PM »

PMRNC

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2013, 03:12:09 PM »
I was thinking the same thing. There will never be a PM system that has all of what we want, however in terms of development you can find one for the long haul w/out much trouble. Not trying to talk you out of it, or knock it but statistically speaking it costs a lot of money to develop a software AND maintain it in this industry, if your not going to market/sell it you will spend more money trying to keep it current. JMHO

I'm not going to get too upset over the companies with the billing companies.. after thinking more of it, we shouldn't have anything to worry about, in fact maybe it will keep us on our toes. :)
Linda Walker
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Billergirlnyc

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2013, 04:19:30 PM »
I don't feel the need to explain my reasoning for anything I'm doing. I only mentioned my plans for my own software, not in hopes to convert or sell. Clearly you should be doing what's best for you, as I'm always going to do what's best for me and my business, which is multifaceted.  I'm not on any soapbox, but rest assured whatever I do is well planned and though-out, and always in the best interest of my business.

As I stated before and meant to leave was that Kareo or any other vendor having their own billing company doesn't bother me. This is business and I doubt any of these companies will blatantly go over the clients of companies paying them to use their service. But, of course, that's just me.
Don't worry. Be happy.
~Dalia, CPC, CPC-H, RHIT.

gurumedbill

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2013, 08:56:43 PM »
I don't feel the need to explain my reasoning for anything I'm doing. I only mentioned my plans for my own software, not in hopes to convert or sell. Clearly you should be doing what's best for you, as I'm always going to do what's best for me and my business, which is multifaceted.  I'm not on any soapbox, but rest assured whatever I do is well planned and though-out, and always in the best interest of my business.

I'm sorry if I came off as offensive and you certainly don't need to explain anything to me.  I was simply curious to know if there was something you were looking for in a software solution that you hadn't found.  I thought maybe we could help you.  Anyway, no biggie.

Billergirlnyc

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2013, 10:27:18 PM »
I don't feel the need to explain my reasoning for anything I'm doing. I only mentioned my plans for my own software, not in hopes to convert or sell. Clearly you should be doing what's best for you, as I'm always going to do what's best for me and my business, which is multifaceted.  I'm not on any soapbox, but rest assured whatever I do is well planned and though-out, and always in the best interest of my business.

I'm sorry if I came off as offensive and you certainly don't need to explain anything to me.  I was simply curious to know if there was something you were looking for in a software solution that you hadn't found.  I thought maybe we could help you.  Anyway, no biggie.

Not offensive but it became something bigger than needed to be. I've been a biller for a long time, a CPC and RHIT for shorter, prob worked on every software around, but this doesn't mean I'm above suggestions, opinions, or comments. I came here for help not to long ago and I try to be helpful. I probably shouldn't have brought it up in this topic, because it's not just about PM software, but my credentialing, and collections software, for all facets of my business. So my need to have my own has everything to do with needing/wanting something that can be multi-layered and handle all these things without me needing to have 3 different software that do 3 different things. Hope that makes sense. Either way I appreciate and respect all comments, just felt it was getting off track, considering it was just an off comment, not meant to start a debate. And my only point was is I don't do anything without thinking it through and taking cost into consideration, and since it's my brother helping me, I feel confident that we will come up with something, but again I've taken everything everyone has said into consideration long before I mentioned it here, as others asked me the same questions, and I asked my self these questions long before we started.

PS: I'm in class haha, bored, and on this forum. Clearly, I love this place.  ;D
Don't worry. Be happy.
~Dalia, CPC, CPC-H, RHIT.

RichardP

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #9 on: March 28, 2013, 03:01:59 PM »
... need to have ... something that can be multi-layered and handle all these things without me needing to have 3 different software that do 3 different things.

Sometimes it is better to have software that performs a specific task, and performs it well.  Often, software that is designed to do multiple tasks does none of them well.  That is just a comment and not an argument.  I know your brother can customize the sofware to meet your specific needs, which will no doubt function much better than commercial software that is trying to meet everybody's needs.

Given the push to interoperability and the HL7 standard, I'm reading about your brother's programming skills with interest.  The biggest thing I need right now is a data input screen where the input fields can be customized (patient demographics, insurance info., etc).  I'm guessing there is an emerging market for such a screen that every user could attach to whatever software their vendor / client is providing.  For example, imagine someone with ten different clients, and each wants the biller to use their own software.  It would be wonderful for the biller to have one (or two if necessary) screens that would interface with all of the different client's softwares/databases.  Having such a standardized screen(s) would speed up the biller's work and cut down on the potential for error as the biller switches from one screen layout to another to another, as s/he moves from one client' software to another to another.  Just a thought.  (Edit:  I'm talking about the screen used to put new patient information in, and/or used to verify a current patient's demographics and insurance info - not all the other screens a biller would use in the course of billing and generating reports.)

I made reference to interoperability at the following link.  The link I gave there to an interoperability article no longer works, but I quoted from that article, so you can read a bit there if interested.

http://www.medicalbillinglive.com/members/index.php?topic=7034.msg21003#msg21003
« Last Edit: March 28, 2013, 03:05:17 PM by RichardP »

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #9 on: March 28, 2013, 03:01:59 PM »

Paul G. Hackett

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #10 on: April 01, 2013, 02:34:24 AM »
I have to admit that these companies turning into medical billing businesses does disturb me!  Not because of the competition factor but who's to say some bad apple in the bunch won't approach my clients as I use their services or when I discontinue using their service.

From the time they decided to expand their services to include medical billing these companies should have put up easily identifiable info on their website explaining how they will conduct themselves in every conceivable fashion with regard to current and new customers alike.

The fact that one can't find any references regarding their views on non-compete clauses, how they train their employees in regard to the usage of our submitted info, what methods they have implemented to make sure the soliciting of clients from companies they provide services for doesn't happen, etc. is kind of alarming!

PMRNC

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #11 on: April 01, 2013, 12:24:19 PM »
Quote
I have to admit that these companies turning into medical billing businesses does disturb me!  Not because of the competition factor but who's to say some bad apple in the bunch won't approach my clients as I use their services or when I discontinue using their service.

From the time they decided to expand their services to include medical billing these companies should have put up easily identifiable info on their website explaining how they will conduct themselves in every conceivable fashion with regard to current and new customers alike.

The fact that one can't find any references regarding their views on non-compete clauses, how they train their employees in regard to the usage of our submitted info, what methods they have implemented to make sure the soliciting of clients from companies they provide services for doesn't happen, etc. is kind of alarming!

I have the same concerns and not just for myself. I was talking to a few vendors this week in hopes of securing a discount for our members and there are some vendors very much against this and if they play their cards right will be a marketing point for them. On the other hand as others have mentioned, if we do a good job we have no reason to feel a threat. I think today's billing company had better have more experience and diversity in their services. I think we are going to see the ones who are only doing billing going out of business for lack of keeping up. Consulting and education of providers is going to be a MUST. The days of the business opportunity of medical billing has come to an end and you cannot buy your way into this business like you could 10 years ago by any stretch of the imagination. In fact from my own data and reports over the years since I've been running PMRNC 80% of the ones that bought into the $5000 - $10,000 business opportunity is no longer around. The ones who stayed and fought their way and educated themselves on MORE than just billing and did NOT take the ad's of "Make 28,000 a year working from home" (lol thinking about that .. 28K wouldn't even get us two kids in one semester of college.. today) are the ones that are still around. I run reports all the time because I like to see what's trending, who is surviving and who isn't. It's sad on one hand that only 2 of 10 start ups will make it, on the other hand the tightening up of regulations, liability, and education is helping the industry so that the ones still around are here so for a reason. Those 2 of 10 start ups that fail, do so mainly because they did NOT realize what they were getting into. That's not to say those that are still here and around and successful are not going to be threatened by what these vendors are doing.. I don't feel as threatened as I do betrayed if that makes sense.  I'm going back and forth with myself on this, I really didn't know office Ally has been doing this since 2010 but then again, why are people NOW signing up with them fully aware of this? Kareo started this WHILE I'm using them so I do think it's a bit different. HAD I known THEN what I know now may be the difference for me personally. On behalf of the members I have though I do have to look at this and question how to go about this.  I'm very fortunate that I learned a long time ago that there is NO perfect software that does it all.. not at all.. so with that in mind I completely changed my business model and I don't market my software. Only 2 of my clients are using MY preferred software and they are the ones signed up, I just use it :)  I've never ever turned down a client due to my software preferences, I let them tell me what they want and utilize what they have in place or what they want me to use. I'll make any program work with my services.   

Sorry, I think I ranted in the opposite direction.. lol
Linda Walker
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One Stop Resources, Education and Networking for Medical Billers
www.billerswebsite.com

DMK

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #12 on: April 01, 2013, 01:50:17 PM »
This is really intelligent discussion about something that's going to affect our whole industry.  The massive regulations will put a lot of the small guys out of business.  Or the small guys who don't follow the letter of the law will be fined out of existence whether they believe it, as they're breaking the law, or not.

My own clearing house just pitched me their billing service and EMR software. Ugh.  I'll look at the information, and maybe hit them up for a job!

PMRNC

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #13 on: April 01, 2013, 01:59:22 PM »
Quote
My own clearing house just pitched me their billing service and EMR software. Ugh.  I'll look at the information, and maybe hit them up for a job!

Really? I have no idea how I would handle that!!!  What did they say and how did you react? You don't have to put the name out there, but I'd be interested to know how they actually went about that!!
Linda Walker
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One Stop Resources, Education and Networking for Medical Billers
www.billerswebsite.com

RichardP

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #14 on: April 01, 2013, 03:27:59 PM »
This is ... something that's going to affect our whole industry.

I think it has already affected the whole industry.  A lot of people just haven't recognized it yet (particularly those targeted by the billing school ads).  Carefully think through all of the things an on-site biller had to account for when the doctor was writting in a paper chart - from getting the new patient demographics and insurance info into the computer correctly all the way to posting the last payment for that date of service.  Now, with EMRs, PMs, Patient Portals, electronic remittance/EOB, computerized phone calling to deadbeats, and even patient statements automatically printed or sent to patient's e-mail, hardly anything is on paper.  Both doctor and patient (can) put everything directly into the vendor's database.  And the computer can generate quite a number of automatic responses, based on criteria that have been established in the computer.  A great deal of the work formerly performed by the on-site biller has been transferred to the doctor and the patient and the computer.  All the biller does now is verify the new patient information (if they even do that), and guide the electronic posting of insurances payments as they post the electronic remittance/EOB.  And maybe have a little input in the patient billing process.

Given all of that,  why should doctors who have bought into the EMR-in-the-cloud thing bother with a biller - when the vendor of the EMR in the cloud can provide value-added by having their staff do those few things that the doctor, patient, and computer are not now handling on their own?  For those doctors who practice simple medicine and who do simple billing, there probably is no argument that can sway them away from this setup.  Those doctors who can be persuaded of the value of an actual biller will be those who practice complicated medicine and who do complicated billing.  And these accounts are not going to be handled by the folks fresh out of billing school.

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Re: Office Ally
« Reply #14 on: April 01, 2013, 03:27:59 PM »