Kareo

[mbloom]

I am about to sign my first client and I am thinking about either Kareo or NueMD. They seem similar to me - but I got to experience Kareo by way of helping a DME provider switch to their system. Everything was fine- but a few weeks later he called and said it seemed as though his payments were slower. Before Kareo, he billed through PCACE, Medicare's system. I thought- ok..because its not Medicare's system. However, I called Kareo just for the sake of being thorough and they said it actually does take almost 48 hours (2days!!!) for the claim to exit their internal scrubber and go to the payor.

Just curious......does anyone think thats REALLY bad??

[PMRNC]

Hmm, only way I have seen that delay is if the scrubbing they use returns errors, otherwise I've not seen 2 days and yes I would say that's a bit longer than I would want. I will say this, out of ALL the billing systems I've worked on their e-scrubber is by far the most powerful of any of others I've used! It's a fairly new feature added sometime last year and they have made tons of improvements .The auto posting feature is another one I was pretty skeptical of but now I can't live w/out it!   Now to be fair, let me give you three more companies that have good systems I would stand next to kareo.  NPN - National Provider Network, I like how they give you a live demo and then will also allow you to access the demo system at your own pace. Their costs are lower and their system looks pretty good. www.nationalprovider.net/     Another is CollaborateMD  I've not seen their system, however I know several billing companies who use them and love them. If you go to our site at www.billerswebsite.com and sign up for our newsletter we have a series of interviews with software vendors coming in the next few months with our premiere edition being CollaborateMD that is coming out this afternoon. The other one I would look at is MDOnline www.mdol.com   this one looks good because they have a few Different types of programs for all levels, small, medium and large practices, claims only full practice, scheduling, EMR, etc.   All three of those are also lower in cost than Kareo.    I do NOT sell or receive any commissions on these or ANY software. We merely strive to give our members a full and unbiased look at various softwares and we also give our members the tools on what to look for in a PM system which is why I was able to throw those other 3 out at you from what you were looking at with Kareo.   I do indeed use Kareo and for most part I'm happy, some of their features are the most powerful of any I have seen in any software, however there are more out there I have not explored.

Hope this helps.

[gurumedbill]

48 hours does seem a little long but I personally don't think it is a big deal in the grand scheme of things.  It is still way faster compared to a paper claim.  If that is the only thing you are concerned about then it seems minor to me.  I personally have not used Kareo or NueMD.  I have two biller friends that switched from NueMD to TotalMD after I showed them the software and of course they loved the pricing as well.  I'll try to get at least one of them to get on this site and talk about their experience with NueMD.  Of the options that Linda mentioned I have only used CollaborateMD and that was a couple of years back so things have probably changed a little.  I felt there was too many clicks to do simple things.  They also use RelayHealth as their clearinghouse which I think is probably one of the worst clearinghouses out there.  If you have a problem you can't call RelayHealth directly you have to open a ticket with Collaborate and then they are supposed to investigate on your behalf.  You are lucky if you here back from them in 48 hours.  Of course I would recommend you doing your own research and it looks like you already started with that.  Good luck in your search and I'm sure you'll find a great solution for you.

[mbloom]

Thanks both of you! This is very very good information!


Melissa

[barb2512]

I use Kareo and I love it. Kareo scrubs the claim and forwards it on to the clearinghouse, Gateway, who in turn scrubs the claim. That could explain the 'delay' it is actually being looked at twice, not delayed.

Barb

[gurumedbill]

So what has happened with Kareo and Practice Fusion?  Did Kareo create their own EMR or are they private labeling Practice Fusion?  What is happening to all the people that were using the two together, can they still use them together?

[RichardP]

One of our clients uses Practice Fusion as an EMR for Medicare patients.  Since PF does not have a billing program built into it, our client fills out a paper fee slip and passes it to us for billing.  We enter that data manually into our billing software, along with the data for other patients he does not put into Practice Fusion.  We then submit the billing as usual - Practice Fusion patient's mixed in with non-Practice Fusion patients.

I do not use Kareo for billing.  But if I did, the work flow in the previous paragraph could be exactly the same.  Client puts EMR data into Practice Fusion and passes a paper fee slip to us; we manually input that data into Kareo and bill from Kareo.

Where the partnership between Practice Fusion and Kareo comes in - they were trying to get set up so that PF and Kareo could pass data back and forth electronically.  From comments I have read on blogs, that effort did not meet with the success they had hoped for.

So far as I know, there is nothing stopping anyone from using Practice Fusion as the EMR and Kareo as the PM system, with a paper fee slip as the go-between as described in the first paragraph above.  Maybe they can even talk to each other still in some fashion.  But a political decision has been made to not continue to sell the two to the public as a partnership/team EMR/PM system.

Edit:  I know at one point Practice Fusion was offering billing service to its clients.  Now that Kareo is also offering billing services, perhaps they now see themselves in competition with each other instead of seeing themselves as partners.

[tallmanusa]

PF told me that they are planning on integrating with Nuesoft, and CollaborateMD, which should be available within weeks.

[PMRNC]

Collaborate MD already works with PF.

[RichardP]

I forgot to add that Kareo has developed its own EHR, which is offered for free.  I suppose that could be a reason they no long need to partner with Practice Fusion.

Why would we give our EHR away? One simple reason: we want to earn your business. There are no strings attached, no ads included, and no worries of your information being sold to third parties. We just want to show you what Kareo can do for your practice on the clinical side so you might consider our Kareo Practice Management or Kareo Billing Service in the future.

http://www.kareo.com/ehr

[alextate]

I am sure every vendor has their specific niche out there; however, for me CureMD’s EHR http://www.curemd.com/ehr-software-reviews/ worked wonders! Not only is it very user friendly but also very affordable. Their ‘All-in-One’ Cloud platform is a life saver for small and medium practices! It integrates Specialty-specific EHR with Practice Management, patient portal and iPad app which is built with maximum functionality to help physicians chart on the go. Everything under one roof helps to avoid the hassle of dealing with various vendors, saving precious time and resources.
Not only their EMR solution is configured for each specialty providing the necessary clinical content and decision support for delivering better care, but they also guarantee advanced enterprise functionality at a fraction of the cost charged by other vendors with Support available 24/7. Their adaptive learning engine learns the unique style of practice from favorite diagnosis to most preferred treatment plans lowering overall documentation time. Ranked by KLAS for their usability as a No.1 SaaS EMR, CureMD has raised the bar in usability with one of the lowest issue resolution times in the industry.

[Michele]

alextate are you a user of CurMD's EHR?  Or do you sell it?