Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Practice Fusion?

Several colleagues have recommended Practice Fusion. Their website makes it sound a lot like AC? Anyone with any knowledge about how the two compare besides cost/advertising?

Thanks.

From my perspective, the key difference is data ownership and data use.

With AC [currently], you own your data, and you have your data.

With PF, they hold the data, you can't easily get the data, and they monetize and sell that data.

The classic question of how expensive is 'free'. I agree with Heinlein [fellow Boat-Schooler] TANSTAAFL

Thanks for pointing that out, I haven't read the fine print on either so far, so that helps.

so, which EMR is the closest competitor/match for AC?

Hard to say. Probably Soapware.

There are a lot of "free" programs out there. Many are tied to using a billing program or PM program. Most are not very intuitive and sometimes not complete.

There are not a lot of low cost programs available. The cost to get into the market has climbed since CCHIT and MU have come into play. So many more regulations, although if you aren't going for MU, I suppose you do not need to meet the requirements. Some that were around have faded.

That brings Soapware, which has been around for almost 20 years. It was designed by a physician. I have not looked at it in a several years. It seemed to get less user friendly over the years, then I just stopped looking as much at other EMRs. I cannot find on the internet what the price is for it but it has always been in the same range as AC. It recently merged with a cloud vendor.

Wendell,
Thanks for your response/info! Are you happy with AC? How long have you used it? Do you do electronic billing through their vendor?

Happy end of Prohibition Day!

The last time I looked at Soapware, the pricing and software was so modularized that you really need to look at what features you get/want with AC, then put together the Soapware modules that will provide the same functionality. Then check the price. Really. I think even importing external items was an optional feature.

I can shed some light on Practice Fusion. We are completely free and always will be. Practice Fusion has never, and will never, sell personally identifiable information. We firmly believe in the power of de-identified clinical research to help answer some of healthcare's biggest issues. All information used by our researchers is strictly de-identified beyond HIPAA standards. You can read more about our Research Division's work at www.practicefusion.com/research

I'm going to quote myself to put the questions back out there since PF was nice enough to send someone by to answer questions. All of these questions need to be answered dependent on the PF & Doctor agreement.

<1>By contract, who owns the practice data?
<2>I would infer from your answer above that the Doctor does NOT control how their practice data is used - is that correct?
<3>Should the practice desire to leave PF and wants a copy of all of their practice data, can they download their entire dataset? If not all of the data, what can they download?
<4>Were the Doctor to choose to pay for the use of PF, at that point can the Doctor opt out of the use of his patient data?
<5>If not 4, is there ANY method in which PF can be used without practice data being used by PF or some third party?

Yes, I am very happy.

I have been using it for over 10 years (I was an early adopter.)

I use one of their prior billing vendors, that they no longer refer to (with good reason) but was waiting for V7. I am reconsidering my options for billing.