Home Forums Discussions General Discussion AC PM, CareTracker, EZclaim etc

I have search topics and threads on ACUB but nothing seems current, so I apologize if I am repeating old info.

I am (as was GoBruin in 3/18) on EZClaim 10.8 and AC 10.0.2, and am thinking of switching to AC PM for an integrated solution that is more seamless and does not deal with insurances piecemeal. However, as I read ACUB and search the web, there seems to be an old AC PM (see YouTube oLHk3B5LbYI) that looks a lot more like Amazing Charts, and a newer Harris product called CareTracker. The AC-Harris tracker sales specialist claims thousands of AC users.

My questions:

1) for CareTracker users: how was your experience, especially in transitioning, integration, ongoing support, etc?

2) for ACPM users: is it still alive? Can I get it? Is it better or worse than CareTracker?

3) for current or ex-EZCLaim users: comment on changing to ACPM/CareTracker? Better ways to make it work? I find especially the various ways of receiving and reconciliating files tedious. The lack of eligibility really kills it.

Thanks for all your help.

Jack

I have been using ACPM for some time and it works well. I'm not sure about the integration of CareTracker with AC. ACPM was previously MedFx and the program was bought by AC and modified to be more integrated.

Anytime you transition from one PM to another you have to go through changes:
1)Usually a different clearinghouse, so you have to fill out all sorts of registration for EACH insurance you accept and it must be processed

2)New System to learn. No matter how intuitive (and I don't think any of them are really that intuitive compared to AC) the program CLAIMS to be there is a learning curve. Training is an important thing to consider, how much is included and how effective and

3)Transfer of data from the old program to a new one. Is there a charge? How useful is it? How long will it take?

4)How good are they at responding to problems? ACPM still has some issues but I doubt CareTracker would be different since they are the same corporation

5)How good are the reports? ACPM is pretty good, I've seen better, not sure about CareTracker

Hello Jack,

I am on EZ Claim Premier, not Advanced. When they were developing Premier several years ago, my biller made numerous suggestions to the owner of the company for their program, which they implemented. She is happy with it. There is now an eligibility checking feature.

EZ is integrated with Amazing Charts to the extent that information from it such as demographics, ICD 10 codes and CPT codes flows into EZ Claim without double entry. Payment information is entered into EZ Claim, not AC. You may want to check, but I think that there are many 100s of AC users on EZ Claim, Perhaps about 1000.

My claims clearing house is ZirMed, now a part of Waystar after merging with another very large clearinghouse. They have been easy to work with and very helpful.

My biller logs into my main computer a few times a week remotely. She does work for other doctors as well. If you would like, I can put you in touch with her. Best wishes to you. I remember going through the search for billing software years ago, and it was a nightmare. I'm quite happy with my current solutions.

Norm Numerof, MD
Internal Medicine in the Vail Valley

Thank you both for replying.

@Wendall: I definitely like the similarity and integration of ACPM, as seen on YouTube. I cannot seem to be able to find ACPM anymore to download. Can I still get it? Do you have eligibility checking? Which clearinghouse do you use?

@Norm: That sounds promising. Is Zirmed able to work with all your payors? I need to log into some websites to get EDI files myself for EZ Advance/Capario. I pay $188 flat rate per month to Capario. Is Zirmed similar?

Thanks again

Hello Jack,

Yes, ZirMed is able to work with all of the payors. I don't remember having to sign up individually with each payor for ZirMed; I think they took care of it all. I probably just clicked through a list to indicate the payors with which I participate, but you may want to call them to verify that process.

I think that getting the EDI files is seamless through EZ Claim Premier / ZirMed, meaning that I think my biller just goes through EZ Claim to get the EDI files. I haven't had to open EZ Claim for over a year; I just let her do everything.

She used to work in my office. She is trustworthy and super efficient. We fax her the superbills every day with payment info (probably another way to do it, but staff does it and its fast and no work for me). Note that at my behest, last year AC started exporting payment type info to EZ and others. Haven't tried it yet, though.

For ZirMed, the cost is $129/month. EZ Claim and the biller are extra. If you want to, I can see if she is taking on more clients. She is a certified coder. She has all kinds of certifications after her name, including CEBS, COC, CPC, CPMA. Email me at NormNumerofMD@aol.com if you'd like.

Hello Jack,

I don't know that ACPM is any more significantly integrated than AC / EZ Claim Premier. I've also seen reports on the user board about ACPM being down. EZ Claim Premier has never been down in the years I've used it. Tech support is responsive. I have no skin in the game with EZ Claim. Just doing the 3 Musketeers thing - all for one and one for all as we independents try to survive.

My biller gave me permission to share her contact info with you (and user board). Her name is Shanon Giffin. Email is ShanonGiffin@gmail.com. Note 2 n's in her first name, not 3.

Good luck!

Norm

@Norm

Thank you once again for your help. I am going to email Shanon for help. I am waiting for my Premier demo coming Friday. I hope they have an answer, but I am wondering about checking new patient eligibility. The workflow would be a little cumbersome if we have to double enter new patients to check eligibility? Or is there some nifty way for Premier to know when a new patient gets entered into AC (before we see them and create a superbill to export).

Otherwise, I have not yet talked to Trizetto. I will also ask Zirmed, which sounds good as well.

Thanks again.

Hello Jack,

I think the workflow is as follows (It's something that the front desk staff would use, so I don't have day to day familiarity with it):

1) Start AC and EZ Premier. Since EZ charges by the number of simultaneous users, I have bought only one license. Any computer can sign on to EZ, but only one at a time. If that's inconvenient, simply buy another license. Not a problem when Shanon wants to sign in remotely, because she works very early in the morning (~0500 mountain time - my hours start at 0900).
2) Enter new patient info including insurance company and policy number into AC only; you don't need to enter it into EZ. No double entry; info transfers on export:
3) In AC, export info into EZ - ask at your EZ demo how to do this. Specifically, to your point, inquire as to whether there is a way to do this before the patient is seen and a superbill is created. I believe that an export does need to take place.
4) There is a "Check Eligibility" button in EZ. (I last tried it myself over a year ago.) Click on that and EZ goes out to ZirMed seamlessly (I don't think that you have to click on anything to export from EZ to ZirMed - just need an internet connection) and returns eligibility info, including deductibles, etc. for office visits, hospital, and a host of other policy info.

I hope this helps. Let me know how you make out.

Norm

Thank you Norm. I have made initial contact with Shanon, and will wait for EZClaim demo (tomorrow) and work out the new workflow before we engage her to help.

I still want to have AC Demographics of new but not-yet-seen patients import into EZCLaim Premier for eligibility checking, to avoid double entry. This request was bumped to EZClaim tech support, who replied that I simply export demographics with encounters. Not sure if he understands my need, or is telling me it cannot be done without an encounter.

To all EZCLaim Premier users:

Can I have AC Demographics of new but not-yet-seen patients import into EZClaim Premier for eligibility checking before the visit?

Thank you all.

Sorry about the late response, but ACPM is in the cloud, there is nothing to download. It does do eligibility checking and if you use the scheduling component (which we do not) it will auto check eligibility in the background and send the schedule back to AC. Schedules done in AC do not go to ACPM, however, so you must do manual checking.

It rarely goes down, but often kicks you out after a couple of hours and you have to quit AC and restart the entire program. This can be a pain.

They use claimremedi as the clearinghouse.

I am in the same boat as JackChoi 3 years later. Need suggestions for automated eligibility checks and benefits. Until now, we log on to half a dozen different websites to pull the information that also requires manual data entry. It is time consuming and inefficient. Is there a product out there that will run the benefits based on the schedule in AC? We use EZclaims Premier desktop for practice management and Office Ally as our clearing house.

They are no longer upgrading ACPM or offering ACPM as a billing software option, at least that is our understanding; they're pushing Harris/CareTracker now. I watched the 30-minute webinar and it looks like a bloated beast of a program. We are hoping to stay with ACPM as long as possible since we've been on it since 2016; but ultimately they'll stop offering support and will force us to change to another product at some point.

I have to agree with Trista. ACPM does work but is far from ideal and clunky. The thought of going to another clunky program does not interest me.

Availity is free and provides a number of different insurance company look ups, that may help. We have found that external websites are faster and more consistent than using ACPM for eligibility

7 years later... after a few years of AC relentlessly touting it's PM product, then going silent on the topic, this is where we stand.
Very disappointing.

Hello Norm,
Are you still using AC and EZClaim? I'm looking for some help with a problem updating insurances.
Thanks,
Avery