Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Practice Management - OfficeAlly

Office Ally is coming out with Practice Mate - a free practice management program. You can see a short online demo of some features at http://www.officeally.com . Look in the upper right hand corner of the home page for the link.

I've been using Office Ally to do my billing since my horrible experience with outsourcing my billing. I have to say, I have gotten very quick returns (my first one 9 days after filing the claim - my billing company had not even submitted my claim in 3 months!). Since we don't have the AC PM module yet, I will certainly be looking at what Office Ally rolls out.

Barbara C. Phillips, NP
Aberdeen, WA

I have also had nightmare experiences with "Off Site" billers. We've been using OFFICE ALLY and agree that they are great. I first heard of their web based PM application "PRACTICE MATE" in July and am eagerly awaiting its debut. In the mean time I bought EZCLAIM ADVANCED and the PRINT IMAGE MODULE (BOTH are necessary) to get me through. It’s a clunky process but if I stay on top of it every claim gets to the payer. My quickest turn around has been 6 days, though most are longer.
In a nut shell here’s the flow.
Sign the chart in AC
Export the bill to a file on the desktop
Use EZCLAIM’s Import utility to get the bill into EZCLAIM
CHECK the bill/claim in EZCLAIM for errors! – Mine always drops the modifiers.
Export the bill/claim to a file on the desktop
Log in to OFFICE ALLY and upload the claim

A real pain in the butt, but it gets easier with time. Ultimately it’s a thrill when you get a check in a reasonable amount of time.
Matt McCoy
Galley Slave to
Rosann Volmert D.O.
Pasadena, Ca

01/19/2007
OFFICE ALLY export format added in BETA. Here's the link
http://www.amazingcharts.com/beta/
Yess!

Hey guys. This OfficeAlley thing is just another clearing house right? It doesn't have any real practice managment to speak of. So how do you track your claims, follow up on the problem ones, and then continue on to bill patients their balances. What are you using to fill these holes? What about reports on patients and carriers, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days and the like? Lastly, I reviewed their list of carriers and our local Blues here in central New York was not on the list. They are at least 50% of almost all docs in our regions claims. So for carriers that do not cooperate with them, do those claims drop to paper and drag on for weeks and months? Thanks.

Yes, but there's a twist in that they dont charge providers. Excellent customer svc and options as to reports and upload methods.
Not yet. But "Any day now" they promise to roll out Practice Mate, a full service web based practice managment suite that will be offered at no charge. There's a demo on thier site that talks about it.
For the moment, while I wait for AC's PM to materialize, or Office Ally's, Im using Quickbooks. Double entry I know, but it's idiot proof.
Call them and ask "when"- They actually answer the phone. In the past 6 months they have added hundreds (maybe thousands) of payors. They are Blue Shield of Californias' official clearing house and it wouldnt suprise me if the invade your neighborhood soon. In the process of learning all about this wonderful world of billing in the last year, they have been the one service out there that hasnt left me for dead by the side of the road.
Regards,

Anyone try to export right to officeally yet with the new beta option?

If so, how did it go?

Which option do you choose inside officeally's menu for the type of file?

Seems like there will be no point in ezclaim or other pm system once oa launches theirs.

adiljaffer,
It doesnt work. I almost cried when the file bounced. Ive contacted A/C and was told they are looking into it. Its only on the BETA version so we cant scream and yell about it.

Discussed with Jon (by e-mail) about the exciting possibility of creating a seemless link between Amazingchart and OfficeMate. Hey, if this portion works, Jon can hold off of PM and piggyback on OfficeMate. It's free.

Also speaking about free (my favorite topic), I signed up for the free e-prescription which is supported by Surescripts. I understand that Amazingchart uses Surescripts. Thus, I'd like to know if this free eRx (see thread on other topic)can be seemlessly connected to Amazingcharts so that we will have the eRx and OfficeMate connected.

I attended the seminar for ERX NOW and from what I understand it will only work seamlessly with Allscripts products. (a4, healthmatics, and touchworks). However any EMR and PM vendor could design their own interface to ERX NOW. Allscripts would then charge an ongoing interface fee.

As far as the officeally interface, I am having trouble understanding something; AmazingCharts does not keep a payer library. So our data is going to them without our numbers for the different payers. From EZclaim, it lists my insurance # with the appropriate address. So even if we could transmit the file successfully, it would come up short. That is until they have OfficeMate comes out and fills in the missing pieces.

Rainy,
What PM are you using for billing now? I'm not "feeling the love" for the new, upcoming, soon, (maybe) Office Ally Practice Mate. Do you really want all your office financials on a web server somewhere? What if they go broke, get sabotaged, suffer an EMP burst, whatever. Of all the things I want physical control of, the financials may be of more importance to me personally than the patient notes. Anyhow, AC needs to get it together on the PM side, or risk becoming obsolete.

AmazingDave,

I don't have a PM system per se.

I was using a billing company (huge nightmare) and am now using Office Ally. I am not uploading (like adiljaffer mentioned), but using their online CMS1500. While its more work, once the info is in there, all I need to do is change dates of service and codes. Simple.

On this end, we are using spreadsheets to keep track of everything. Not perfect by any means...and without relief soon, I'm going to have to cave and get something else. I cannot generate the info I want this way.

I'll have to wait to see what Office Mate will do (ie, What kind of data can I download and back up to my own computers? And in what format?) Whatever it is, I'm hopeful I get better and more accurate data than I was getting from the billing company. I'm hopeful that AC will have something suitable soon - judging from what many are saying...it's essential to all.

BTW...has anyone else noted that the CMS form in AC does not include essential info for secondary payers? I also don't have the ability to switch between payors.

Folks,
The point that Dave raises is very real. Without being able to own a copy of the software that your data was created in then you never really own your data. Your access to your data is only as good as your control of the program it was created in. I ask again, has anybody besides me given Jon and the others at AC a push, hint and a shove about how much we all want and NEED a quality PM module??? I can't wait to try out my new Sync function once they get that ironed out, but this PM thing really is "Mission Critical" for both us users and for AC.
I wrote to Office Ally yesterday about listing and being able to submit to our east coast carriers and have yet to hear back from any of them. I might be willing to use them as a temporary "safe harbor" until Jon gets us his PM module. But a clearing house is only as good to a provider as to the carriers they do have proper relations and interfaces with. Our local BC/BS is too dominate in our area and is about 50% of our business. It seems to me that they have no set-up with Excellus BC/BS and many of their little off-shoots that they have engulfed and devoured. Quite strange a "not for profit" acting so market capital agressive, don't you think???
Furthermore, if they can properly work as a clearing house for our main carriers then I would almost certainly be willing to continue to use them for my clearing house needs even after Jon creates "Amazing PM" in light of their very pro provider policies.

In point of fact, I have to meet with my local Medisoft guy today to upgrade our office from v9 to v12 because the former does not support NPI numbers. This is going to cost me over a grand, and probably means that whatever Jon does (3-6 months too late for me), I'll probably stay a year with Medisoft to justify the bucks I had to put out because the "coming winter '06" didn't pan out.

I just tried to talk to OfficeAlly and they seemed less than thrilled or inspired to try and get east coast based carriers on board, especially our Excellus BC/BS. This really is the dirty underside of this business. Tell me why do we all have to be electronic compliant when these carriers are still allowed to play such games? Anyway having an interface or PM that is only good for one clearing house that may or may not cover your particular group of carriers is certainly not a proper answer. We can't be dropping over half our claims to paper and neither should anybody else.
Dave, I forget, are you x-linked into your present PM or not? If so how do you find it? I agree that once one spends lots of money and effort on something else, why then spend it again on the "some day" AC product. I'm concerned that Jon may loose a lot of potential PM customers this way...

Paul,
I'm not using X-link yet. I've got my biller set up with single-user Medisoft on her laptop so she can work from home or the office. We generate a superbill which she then enters manually into Medisoft. Not ideal, but works. She is really Medisoft-literate and an unexpected benefit is that it forces a "second look" at my coding before it goes out. Of course, the Medisoft guy today wants to sell me the moon and the stars: Medisoft Network, MediNotes, Claims Management software ($127/mon. for that alone!) which of course, I'm not buying. Interestingly, he did admit that a lot of his Medisoft clients are using Amazing Charts up here in NW Washington. He said he's been trying to help one practice X-Link AC and Medisoft, but hours of work and $1500 dollars later it still doesn't work. He wasn't aware of the v.3.56 Medisoft bug fix. Funny thing, he said the ideal solution would be for Amazing Charts to develop its own PM! I sure wish I didn't have to deal with Medisoft anymore, but the NPI deadline is fast approaching and I can't afford to interrupt my cash-flow.
Dave

hockeyref and amazingdave,

I too would have most of my claims dropped to paper in the event of using OfficeAlly. What would be the harm in that? Is there a higher rejection rate, or does it take too long? Just curious, because when I talked to them, they did not make it sound like a big deal. I have always outsourced so do not know the details. Thanks

Good question Adil,
"Dropping to paper" sounds bad in an electronic age, but it may only mean a slight delay in processing. Still not as bad as actually billing on paper. It depends on the carrier. With one of our biggest insurers, filing electronically, we're getting paid in 6 days on average. With others, using the same method it can be weeks. A bigger issue may be outsourcing your billing. Nobody cares about your money as much as you. Billing companies and large groups with expensive administrators would like you to believe billing is just too hard for the average physician to understand. Umm... if the guy with 20 years of schooling, a doctorate level degree and mandatory annual continuing education can't do it, how come the high school grad with a $395 Medisoft program and a web page can handle it? I knew we were on to something when my "newly-trained" in-house biller came to me after the first month with $42,000 in uncollected money from secondaries that never got billed the previous year. You don't want to do the billing yourself, but find somebody in your office, or your community, that would work for you, treat them well and make sure "buy into" making the practice successful.

HORROR STORY OF DROPPING TO PAPER:

I unwittingly signed up for PCACE-32 several years ago looking for an "electronic" method of billing Medicare. I thought that was the right thing to do. Somehow in the course of obtaining this worthless piece of software from CMS-EDI, I had signed away all my rights to paper transaction.

Beginning late last year, Noridian EDI has REFUSED to give me a paper copy, so I get a check without an EOB. Mind you, I'm a solo-doc with two full time employee and qualify for exemption to be on paper. But because of a fine print, Noridian has refused to give us an EOB.

OfficeAlly does not take electronic remittances from Medicare.

Medicare EDI gave me a website to download a program called "EasyPrint", which is anything but easy. I'm still not able to obtain an electronic remittances despite hours spent waiting on hold at Noridian EDI trying to get some help.

I have reported this to the WSMA (state medical association) and am curious if anyone else is in this Catch-22. Policies such as this will likely drive solo-practitioners out of Medicare (which I think is what Big Brother, Big Industries, and Big Practices want to see).

I don't see that many Medicare patients, but recently got PC Ace software to submit claims to blue cross/blue shield. Does it work with AC? I've found AC very good so far and plan on purchasing it when my trial period is up. I work on my own, with no support staff (yet)and am trying to do everything myself, until I begin to go insane. Any comments on PC Ace and how to use it would be helpful.

Hello Rainy & Others,
As of Feb 5 07 Im using Office Ally's Practice Mate. It works as promised, full featered, does aging, prints patient statements, tons O report options and the same great service youve come to expect from Office Ally.
but of course, there's an issue. Youll have to make a choice-
(option 1)Want to batch upload direct to OA from AC's export claim feature? You can BUT... the claims wont go into the wonderful practice management module. So you cant use it!

(option 2)Want to use the free Practice Mate module? No problem BUT... You cant upload claims direct from AC's batch upload feature.

If you do use Practicemate you can import all the data you saved in the "Online claim entry" area (Patient, payer and provider info)over to the PM so that will save you time.
You could also keep using OA the same way you have been. It appears they did in fact fix the problem that prevented batch uploading of claims to OA.(more or less anyway) So now you can do that.

Does that make sense?

You mean to tell us that the great brain trust at this place didn't bother to put the two most obvious parts of their system together with the ability to work together and talk to one another? Jon can you hurry up and finish that Practice Managment module already, Pretty PLEEEEAAAASSSSSE. And they still don't have direct relations with most of the carriers east of the eastern mountains. Our wonderful carriers here want us to have to use the "pay for the previlege of billing with them electronically" clearing houses. Isn't the business of medicine wonderful??? I can't find my mailbox anymore and we're still snowed in....
Paul

I have had enough of my medical "biling" office and will be using AC and one of the companies listed. However, office ally does not yet "cover" the midwest eg, Iowa.
has anyone had any experience with advancedMD etc listed on the beta links??

I'm with Paul...I really need the Practice Management module for Amazing Charts. IMHO this is the number one priority.

I've not had any experience with advancedMD, but I would be careful and make sure you do your due diligence. My experience with an outside billing company was horrid though I know others still use them and say they like them. Perhaps it was because we were the first account for that company in our state...but I doubt it. Either way, after 6 weeks, the only accounts they had billed was the state L&I program and one of the basic health programs.

FYI, I believe on another thread someone else mentioned that Advanced MD was very expensive. Are they simply an ASP based PM software or are they a clearinghouse to process your claims as well? The more I think about what option to choose, the more I get stuck in a feedback loop of no choice at all....Come on Jon let's get it going already, PLEASE....

I currently use Visionary Medical Systems as my PM software and have for about 10 years now. When my group of five internists all went our separate ways I searched for months for what I felt was a user-friendly, reasonably-priced EMR/PM, package that was not overburdened with too many bells and whistles which my solo practice would never use. I never found one. Consequently, I bought separate EMR and PM programs from smaller, less expensive vendors and, although they did not mesh completely, made them work for me. I was pleased with the results and pleased with the support and responsiveness of the vendors.
Over the years the EMR got fancier and fancier, added this thingy and that thingy and, along with all these neato upgrades came upgraded user fees and increasing difficulty getting through to tech support. Finally, after almost 7 years of loyalty to my EMR (SOAPWARE) I had enough and ditched it for AC. After almost 10 years of loyalty to the PM side of Visionary, I am about to do the same because they have nearly upgraded themselves out of my league. They no longer have that small business attitude and willingness to please and their user fee reflects their desire to "run with the big dogs".
As a solo physician who was attracted to AC because of its small practice utility and the responsiveness of the tech department I have serious worries about all this push by users for a PM module. The old saying "be careful what you wish for" keeps hounding me. No question there are improvements which can and need to be made in the overall program but I hope that those of you who are pushing for fancy interfaces and upgrades realize that the reasons you were attracted to this program in the first place may disappear. And the price would also then have to be increased to cover the R&D and tech support. JMO