AdvancedMD Practice Management review

From its headquarters in South Jordan, Utah, AdvancedMD offers cloud based medical software that focuses on outpatient medical practices. Its 600 employees serve over 37,000 practitioners, at over 13,000 practices. The AdvancedMD billing platform robustly processes over 6.5 million insurance claims each month.

• You can learn more about AdvancedMD Practice Management here

Features

AdvancedMD is a comprehensive medical billing suite, designed to run the gamut of office needs. It is a smartly integrated product, that covers both medical billing, and medical practice needs.

The product starts with the front office, the forward facing staff that is the first contact with the patient in most cases. There is a focus on streamlining processes with plenty of useful tools. Rather than wasting staff time on endless phone calls to remind patients to come to their appointments, AdvancedMD has built in appointment reminders. Now, plenty of other software suites offer this useful feature as well, but we give kudos to AdvancedMD to not only being able to send out these reminders to reduce those annoying no shows, but also gives patients a link so that they can confirm the appointment. In the situation where a patient needs to reschedule an appointment, AdvancedMD can handle that as well, with options to reschedule via phone, email, or text. Finally, for Spanish speaking patients, AdvancedMD has the capability to designate that language choice, and then the emails and texts will go out in that chosen language.

Also, there is an option for an automated kiosk, to further free up the front office. Gone will be the days of piles of Xeroxed forms on a clipboard with a chewed on pen. AdvancedMD replaces this with an iPad Kisok, both for initial demographics, and to complete a form, such as a consent, and to update personal information. This works in harmony with the Admin Kisok, so office staff can assign intake forms for the patient, and scan driver’s licenses and insurance cards.

A definite plus for AdvancedMD is the close integration with its billing software. This includes an online patient payment module, that can minimize uncollected patient payments, including copays. There are also online statements, as well as bill-pay reminders via text or email- which can all be accessed via a Payment Portal. Patient payments can also be collected via multiple methods: online, in person at the office, a payment plan, via a credit card on file, or via telephone. AdvancedMD also offers an integrated clearinghouse to bill without having to upload additional information to submit claims, and it can also download the remittances automatically.

Drawbacks

Users of AdvancedMD have complaints about a variety of issues with the software looking through online reviews. For example, one user complains that it can be difficult to add providers to a practice, and this should be planned well in advance of the need. Others claim that the training they were promised for onboarding did not happen as planned, and left them scrambling to figure out all the functions of the program. This is reinforced in another review that claims in their experience that it is hard to get in touch with customer service and get a straight answer.

Usability for AdvancedMD also seems to have some issues. More specifically, the interface could be more intuitive, with functions easier to locate for use. The claims checker is designed to catch billing issues prior to getting rejected, but a user indicates that for his specialty, ophthalmology, that the scrubbing of the claims is not effective to prevent the billing errors. Also, it can be difficult to track down missing notes that need to be completed.

Support

AdvancedMD includes the option to generate a trouble ticket, which can be done directly via their website. This includes the option for a live chat, as well as a user community. 

The concerning shortcoming is the lack of a toll free number, in fact any number for support. As seen in the screenshot above, while the company provides toll free numbers to sales and general inquiries, acknowledging the value of a direct conversation, when it comes to tech support, there is no phone number listed, and rather merely a link to take us to “Log a support case” as seen in the screenshot above with the red arrow.

There are no hours or days available listed that support is available.

Pricing

The pricing for AdvancedMD is opaque, and not available on their website. There is an option for a Preconfigured Bundle, or to Build a Bundle. The website indicates that the Preconfigured Bundle is list pricing only, and does not include any discounts. The Build a Bundle is likely a better deal, as it can include a discount of up to 30%. Unfortunately, contact with the company is required to get the actual pricing for either package, after providing your personal information with an email and phone number.

Doing some searching, we did find that AdvancedMD starts at $169 (£147) per provider per month for the basic license, but could not find more specific information.

There is also special pricing for non-medical practices, such as a billing service company, or a mental health practice.

Final verdict

For a practice looking for a medical practice solution, with integrated billing function, AdvancedMD makes a compelling case for itself, offering features including an automated kisok, built in appointment reminders, and an automated billing clearinghouse. The drawbacks include a lack of phone support, the totally opaque pricing, and the onboarding issues reported in user reviews. On balance, AdvancedMD is a reasonable choice for the right practice that needs the features that this software can provide to manage their practice.

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