Home Forums Discussions General Discussion PM cost

Does anyone else think that the special deal of $200/mo/clinician for the PM is ridiculously expensive and counter to the former Amazing Charts philosophy or am I just a tightwad?

Nope, that is more than I think is reasonable :^(
Of course many of us are using Amazing Charts because of its price and by definition are tightwads :^)

Greg

you 'save' 200/mo, it is 298/mo

yeah right. $300/mo. I suggested some lower cost and free PMs like office Ally for them to work with but....

$200/month? Oh HELL to the no! It's been a while since Evil Dean surfaced. I may have to hurt someone's feelings over this.

This isn't AC actually setting the price. It will be higher when the real deal is out in 2014. This is what everyone has been waiting for...the all encompassing, unbelievable, complete PM.

I don't think you're a tightwad, Bill. Either that or all of us here are homogeneous for the tightwad gene. Why lease when you can own has been my motto.

I think AC is trying to figure out how to climb out of it's financial hole. Development costs to meet mandated regulations are separating the big boys from the little boys now. The quality of the program doesn't decide it's success. Regulations help the best capitalized firms outcompete with the barely profitable firms. AC can't afford to be the old simple AC anymore where JB didn't need to make a killing on pricing. PriMed may want to invest for a while, but AC has to pencil out while adding all the MU bells and whistles.

My guess is that AC doesn't really want to be linked too closely with Office Ally as the PM of choice. Nothing against Office Ally, but the free software direction is not going to pay the bills for the development needed to meet all the government regulations in ehrs. I think AC has to tie itself to mid-level pm vendors, and gradually increase it's ehr prices. The practice that chooses Office Ally may be going in the opposite direction from AC.

I think that AC definitely wants to push the hosted AC in the cloud version to improve revenues, so that's why their partner is a cloud PM, and their alternative with kareo is a cloud PM. Yet almost all AC users prefer the local installation, I'm guessing. Does anyone know if MEDfx can be purchased for client/server?

As to the price, it is a little better than kareo if it includes clearinghouse fees and has the same features. Assuming the PM is worth it compared to kareo, this would make some sense for practice that doesn't want to have any IT or hardware expenses beyond workstations and printers. http://www.kareo.com/blog/2011/02/whats-the-true-cost-of-medical-billing-software/

AC in the cloud charges $100/mo for one connection, $300/mo for 5 connections, $500/mo for 10 connections, and a volume discount scale for more connections. So a practice could pay $600/mo for ehr and pm with 5 "licenses". This may be a good cash flow way to start a practice or to make it easy to move to or add another location, but I wonder what percentage of current users would make that trade. Maybe if your IT expenses are really high or not reliable could be another reason.

My guess is that almost everyone here already has an adequate main computer/server set up and don't want to lease a pm when they could own one. If you already have a server for AC, or believe in controlling AC in house such that you need to get a "main computer", then $298/mo for MEDfx will put you into the red after about 18 months compared to most mid-level client/server PMs.

I don't see a "J" that starts a word anywhere in your signature. Jacking threads is an entirely different thing.

It depends on what your definition of "was" was.

Look again

I can rewrite history in this little piece of my life called my profile, and it "was" whatever I want now.

Thanks

Just a clarification, Dan. AC in the cloud charges $39/connection. The prices you quoted are out of date. I am using AC in the cloud despite this cost but there is no way I would pay another $300/mo for the PM.

Thanks Bill

I agree with you. We have 2 midlevels, and this 298/provider would be 10k/year. Plus, I have a perfectly good server. Healthcare is going toward every physician working with midlevels, so I would rather own software and upgrade when there is a need.

This doesn't seem like a good fit for my understanding of the current user base for AC.

MedFx does have a local option. We signed up for the hosted version but had option for either and can switch to on-site if we find hosted is to slow or has other issues.

Hi Joel,

Did they give you a price for a local installation?

No price difference hosted or local.

Thanks Joel

That is unbelievable to me.

Do you know if there is another option to purchase the software? I can't imagine paying a monthly fee for keeping software and data on my server. I can pay for support, like we do for AC, but this Office 365 like thinking is not in my future.

I agree with Dan. Maybe I am missing something but when your billing program cost WAY more than your EMR, there is an issue. Why should the billing cost for every provider. $298 per physician per month. The integrated model could be double that. The only way to lock in your price would be to get the $298 now. And, if you were going to do that, they need to be right on time with the integrated model.

I have never understood the need for a PM. Three years ago, it was all everyone clamored for. And, it was the downfall of JB. We have Medware and are doing just fine. As Dan says, we purchased the software, and we pay for support, which we don't need, because it runs flawlessly. But, when we do, they are on the phone in 30 minutes and fix the problem. Updates are seamless.

My first thoughts were similar to Bert's and most of the rest of you - this is really expensive and more expensive than it needs to be.

We also bought Medware (now owned by Vitera) years ago and still cough up $112 a month for support which, as Bert says, is rarely necessary. I do billing in house and have a biller who spends about 70% of her time on that and 30% of her time being a second receptionist.

AND... I'm paying $99 per month per provider for Vitera's online PM solution plus extra for patient statements, etc. mailed to my patients if I choose.

SO, I'm spending $310 per month now for 2 providers - plus cost of mailing statements and plus labor for a good biller person - and I thought that was an absurd amount of money. And it is.

So what do you get for the "bargain discount" price of $298 per provider per month?
Unlimited clams? Would surely hope so.
Who works/edits denials and can it be done online? How good are their people at doing this? And if I have to have a biller person anyway to work denials to resolution (and I bet I will), what's the use?
Ability to track claims and payments through the entire payment cycle, online?
How much are patient statements? Have to assume these are extra and $0.60 to $0.75 per, unless there's an online payment portal, which at the very most only about 70% of my patients would actually be able to use. So I'll be mailing statements anyway, or not getting paid.

Are you guys/gals using X-Link with Medware? Is is capable of such?

I agree, $298 a month is way too high. Right now I use Relay Health as clearing house through Lytec 2011 and pay $90 a month for unlimited claims with eligibility and ERA posting. Just transmitting the claim part is only $90.00.

Jim, are you really paying $112 a month for support? We pay only for updates. There were three last year. I don't think it was even $112.

By the way, I was informed by a Vitera rep that Medware is considered a legacy program, and is no longer sold by them.

Bert,
Yes, we do pay that much every month. Have been doing it for years. Of course, updates are included. So you simply pay extra for updates and no monthly fee at all? I was under the impression that unless we paid every month, we weren't entitled to updates OR support.

And Gianni, it's true that Medware is no longer available to purchase and is considered a legacy program. But, Vitera still supports (and apparently according to what Bert is telling me, EXtorts) it !

Happy New Year, all.

Jim, my apologies. The first year came with support. Then we paid for updates. I think we now pay monthly. Please accept my apologies.