Electronic Health Records (EHR) have revolutionized the Healthcare IT industry over the past few years. Tasks that used to require hours only require minutes now. However, implementing EHR in your practice is a little more difficult than you think. There are so many options available. But finding the right EHR solution for your practice is not only beneficial but also crucial. Although I can’t go over the thousands of EHR solutions available, I will go through two of the most famous EHR Software; Athenahealth and AdvancedMD.
You might have heard their names before. In fact, you might even be deciding to choose from the among the two most popular EHR software. Although they may be in the same industry and sell the same software, the two are quite unique in their own ways. Athenahealth focuses on large practices, yet keeps its doors open for small and medium scale practices as well. AdvancedMD EHR Software on the other hand focuses on the rising stars and small to medium scale practices.
What is AdvancedMD EHR?
AdvancedMD is an EHR/EMR software that focuses on providing its users with a complete bundle of services to enhance user experience. Along with their EHR solution, they also provide services like e-prescribing, practice management, reporting and analytics, cloud storage, etc. Sure AdvancedMD’s pricing might be a bit steep, but it’s definitely worth it.
Nevertheless, here’s a list of pros and cons for AdvancedMD that you may find interesting:
Pros:
- Offer an extensive suite of solutions to their users.
- Provides connectivity through Windows, Mac, Linus, iPhone/iPad, web-based, and android
- Users can pick and choose from a huge variety of services.
- Users can earn client referral bonuses.
- Offers seamless integration with numerous tools.
- AdvancedMD offers a smart dashboard to ensure user-friendliness.
Cons:
- It can be expensive for small and medium scale practices.
- The training and conferences they provide to help their users to understand their solution is highly expensive.
- Their users often confuse their Add-On Products as a part of their basic package.
What is Athenahealth EHR?
Athenahealth is a medical EHR software provider whose core focus is to provide accessible and sustainable healthcare to everyone through their EHR software. Athenahealth also provides various solutions apart from their EHR like medical billing, care coordination, patient engagement, and revenue cycle. Instead of focusing on patient information, they have also created a solution with other needs of a medical institute. What’s more, is that Athenahealth’s prices are only $140 per provider/month which is far lower than an average EHR’s cost.
That said, here’s a list of pros and cons for Athenahealth EHR that you may find interesting:
Pros:
- A unique and highly interactive dashboard.
- Offers practice management services with a small up-front cost.
- Numerous 3rd party apps are integrated in Athenahealth to maximize seamless operations.
Cons:
- Hidden costs make it costly in the long-run.
- Potential concerns regard to the medical billing feature
Athenahealth vs AdvancedMD!
Since we’ve already talked about the pros and cons of the two EHR solutions. You might be wondering, “Which is the better solution?” Answering that question is nearly impossible because both of them have different strengths and focus on different paths. It would be like comparing an apple and a mango. There’s no comparison.
AdvancedMD EHR software offers a full in-depth suit that caters to all of the practitioner’s needs and focuses more on the small and medium scale practices. On the other hand, Athenahealth offers a wide range of solutions that not only deal with EHR but so much more. Although their primary target audience is large-scale practices, they also keep an eye on small and medium scale practices.
Even though one might say that they’re both EHR service providers, they differ in their vision, approach, and even target market. AdvancedMD’s vision is to enable practices to work seamlessly and achieve long-term success. Athenahealth’s vision is to create a thriving ecosystem that provides accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare services for everyone.
What’s the Best Fit for Your Practice?
When deciding on any technology, always remember one size does not fit all. Just because one technology worked for your competitor doesn’t guarantee it’ll work for you too or anyone else for that matter. So when setting eyes on an EHR solution, deciding between AdvancedMD and Athenahealth EHR Software is a tough choice. Not only because choosing the wrong EHR solution might cause inefficiencies in your practice, but also because changing EHR solutions again would cost you a lot.
One of the most important steps is to assess your practice’s needs and find an EHR solution that fits in your practice, not the other way around.
On one hand, AdvancedMD provides more services than Athenahealth, but Athenahealth offers a better experience. So to answer your question, you should choose the EHR that fits into your medical practice like a charm. Because the technology you choose should be according to your practice. If you’re a rising star and fall under the small and medium medical practice, AdvancedMD would be an ideal choice. However, if you fall into the large-scale practices, the ideal choice for you would be the Athenahealth because it offers enterprise-level services that you can choose from.
