athenaClinicals vs. Practice Fusion

athenaClinicals is well suited from a single physician office to an enterprise healthcare system. The only specialty that they cannot cover is oncology that includes chemotherapy infusions (the dosing is very complicated and requires a specific oncology system).

Incentivized

I think this is a great tool for a smaller practice, and I really like that it is not practice-specific. It seems like any type of doctor could use the site. I also think this is really great for remote workers because you are able to log on via the internet. I think that this tool would not be good for those looking to have a specific practice software. I've worked for other doctors alongside the one I used practice fusion for, and the other doctors used specialty specific software because of the customization to their job and charting.

Incentivized

• Athena is able to create a medication list from the patient's pharmacy purchase history. This aides in compiling a comprehensive list quickly, especially when the patients do not know what meds they are on. The downside to this module is that every time that you add a medication that is not on the list, it turns it into an order that the provider needs to sign. There are many times that you need to make an addition, that the provider does not want to sign as an order.
• The patient history module is easy to configure to meet the needs of the organization.

Incentivized

• Organizes lab work for each patient. Its helpful for us to see a patient at a glance.
• Schedule appointments for patients.

Incentivized

• The cost is very high compared to other programs.
• Some people find the program difficult to learn.
• The billing software requires more work than is described when they are trying to sell you the program.
• The sales staff that we dealt with had the vibe of car salesmen. At times very pushy and the room for negotiation grew at each interaction. The high cost first quoted is very negotiable but they "up charge" for many things.

Incentivized

• One of the biggest frustrations is that PF only imports PDFs of lab results, but does nothing to allow manipulation of the numbers within these PDFs. I can pull up lab results but can't look at a graph, for example, of trends in serum sodium or hematocrit.
• Like EPIC, it would be nice to have an option like scrolling to all the "***"s using F2, which I always try to do on PF until I realize it does not work.
• I wish PF had more dot phrases to pull in things like lab results, etc., into the note. Since I cannot copy and paste lab results (which are stored in PDF) or blow them in with a dot phrase, I have to manually re-write them, which leaves our notes more vulnerable to human error. If this feature DOES exist, it isn't obvious to me or anyone in our clinic.
• It would be really nice to hear from PF support to see if we had any unmet needs in the clinic so that they could educate us on how to better use this EMR to support those needs.

Incentivized

Overall the system is good. Actually, this was supposed to be the universal EMR when it came out during the Bush administration.

Incentivized

In my opinion and experience, they have a lack of customization so you have to constantly create hacks to make their system work for your practice.

They are always there. Friendly and organized.

We always get a return call within the time stated. There are many available topics on the forum and it is often easy to find the issue you are seeking more information on. When we have tried the live chat feature we have been satisfied with the timeliness and response.

Incentivized

Greenway was absolutely horrible. Not intuitive, no right-click functionality, poor integration, and flexibility. athenaClinicals surpasses it in every aspect.

WoundExpert was well suited to wound healing and hyperbaric medical practices. If athenaClinicals had the right forms and ability to accommodate wound care and HBO workflows, it would be a good competitor.

Incentivized

The only other EMR I have used is EPIC. I worked as a scribe for PAMF, where I spent 50 hours a week in front of EPIC. I got to know it really well, and have used PF much less, so it is difficult to make a comparison. EPIC came with so many more options to view test results, visits to other health facilities, and past notes. It also had so many more ways you could format your notes, blow in data, and statistically analyze data. While EPIC is a much more comprehensive and well-supported EMR, it also would be too heavy and unnecessary for the small scale clinic work I do at a community clinic. I feel that each EMR has the environment they are well-suited for, and I am glad to be using PF now.

Incentivized

• PRO -- I know now what I need in an EMR/EHR
• CONS -- They have overcharged me and it has cost me money
• CONS-- They have disregarded my legal rights which makes me unsure of keeping confidential info in their systems and it will cost me money to switch
• CONS--They have cost me money with the time I've wasted to follow up on my own tickets that they refuse to follow up with