I and my two staffers share the billing duties. I know how to do it all if one is off. I lost my full-time biller this past March and the economy right now is not conducive to replacing her. My PM program (which I have used and supported since 1997) wants $7000 to link me up to a free clearinghouse that can send Medicare claims (which I previously did through the program via modem). I cannot afford that. So, I looked into OA and find it to meet my current needs. I have been beta testing V7 and, for now, it uses a fee-for-service clearinghouse and the upload of HCFAs is not yet up to par (IMO). So, for now, I am triple entering because I am hoping AC will eventually meet my needs. I am still posting to the old PM program.

But, at least I can send my claims electronically and OA does scrub the claims nicely. Not the ideal set-up for sure but, for now, it will suffice....and it is free. I was able to import patient data into OA from AC fairly painlessly although I did need OA tech support which I have found to be very good.

If starting from scratch, the PM function of OA (called Practice Mate)may well meet your needs. But, with 26 years of billing data, I find I needed something a little more robust.

I know AC has the potential and the drive to make a good PM (we have seen it in their EHR) but they are not there yet.


Leslie
Hospital Employed Physician Who Misses The Old AC

"It's a good thing for a doctor to have prematurely grey hair and itching piles. It makes him appear to know more than he does and gives him an expression of concern which the patient interprets as being on his behalf. "