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DrChrono Medical Software Review
Table of Contents
- DrChrono is typically affordable for most practices, but the low costs don't mean a lack of features.
- DrChrono offers free, hands-on setup assistance and extensive customer service.
- DrChrono sets limits on the number of text and phone patient reminders you can send without paying extra.
- DrChrono doesn't have an Android app for doctors.
- DrChrono is an ideal medical software platform for small or new practices.
- DrChrono has four subscription plans and levels of access that make it appropriate for practices of all types.
- DrChrono’s drawbacks include limits on text and phone appointment reminders and the absence of an Android mobile app for doctors.
- This review is for owners and administrators of small or new medical practices who are considering DrChrono as their medical software provider.
DrChrono offers the most important medical software features – including patient charting, telehealth, scheduling, e-prescribing, patient reminders and performance reporting – with flexibility and pricing that are ideal for small and newly opened private medical practices. In fact, DrChrono’s reasonable costs for the features it includes stand out so strongly that we named DrChrono our pick for the best medical software for new practices.
DrChrono Medical Software Editor's Rating:
9 / 10
- Customization
- 10/10
- Pricing
- 10/10
- Reporting
- 9/10
- Revenue cycle management
- 9/10
- Patient reminders
- 7/10
Why DrChrono Is Best for New Practices
DrChrono’s range of plans offer robust features no matter the size of your practice’s budget. Even the basic package gives you plenty of tools for scheduling, billing, patient charting, e-prescribing, patient reminders and reporting – everything you need for practice management. As such, you can get your office up and running without making a huge dent in your budget.
Another reason DrChrono is a great choice for new practices is that the user interface is simple, especially on iOS devices, so first-time medical software users will face fewer obstacles while learning the ins and outs. DrChrono representatives are happy to assist your team with remote setup and implementation at no extra cost, and customer service is readily available long after your startup period. DrChrono gives you the tools you need so you’re immediately ready to serve your patients.
Usability
When practices are choosing medical software, usability is often one of the top factors to consider. Based on our testing of the DrChrono platform, we found that it’s highly user-friendly. Practitioners, nurses and front-office staff – even those who are uncomfortable with technology – should all be able to understand and navigate the program with minimal training.
You can reach all of the major applications from the top of the dashboard. These tabs include Schedule, Clinical, Patients, Reports, Billing, Account and Marketplace. Additionally, DrChrono’s highest-level plan, Apollo Plus, includes revenue cycle management (RCM), which eliminates the navigational troubles that are common with medical billing software. The ability to fully outsource your billing is worth the extra cost when you don’t have to navigate confusing billing interfaces.
DrChrono Features
Here are some of the features you get with DrChrono:
Appointment scheduling | DrChrono’s appointment scheduling suite is highly customizable and user-friendly, and includes real-time insurance eligibility checks. |
|---|---|
Billing tools | DrChrono clearly indicates claims that have been created but not submitted while deftly scrubbing and coding claims. However, not all plans include those billing tools. |
Custom charts | DrChrono’s customizable charts and templates vary by appointment type and, on an iPad, allow you to free-draw over patient diagnostic images. |
Direct messaging | DrChrono’s direct messaging suite enables practices to securely send patient information and documentation. |
E-prescribing and labs | DrChrono’s advanced e-prescribing tools are available with all plans other than the introductory Prometheus tier, which offers basic eRx. |
Patient education tools | DrChrono offers patient education tools that cover numerous conditions and important medical advice. |
Patient reminders | All DrChrono plans include patient reminders via email, phone and text, but there are monthly maximums for the latter two types. |
Revenue cycle management | DrChrono’s RCM suite is expansive, but it’s available only at DrChrono’s highest price tier, Apollo Plus. |
Reporting suite | DrChrono’s highly customizable, filterable reports help you identify trends in your practice’s productivity, financial performance and billing operations. |
Appointment Scheduling
DrChrono enables appointment scheduling through a standard calendar that can be viewed in a daily, weekly or monthly format. You can also customize your view by specific practice locations or individual providers.
The DrChrono appointment scheduling suite lets you book appointments in minutes, and makes it easy to register new patients quickly. This tool can come in handy for walk-in appointments, as you can immediately get these new patients into your system. The calendar’s drag-and-drop view lets you reschedule appointments in a jiffy as well.
Preset appointment profiles for recurring appointments with information such as consent forms, billing codes and reason for visit are automatically populated. If you need your calendar to indicate appointments by type, you can color-code them as needed. DrChrono’s open API also allows you to add scheduling features directly to your practice’s website, making it even easier for patients to schedule an appointment.
As appointments approach, all DrChrono tiers except the entry-level plan (Prometheus) give you tools for checking patients’ insurance eligibility in real time. Although DrChrono can automate your patient appointment reminders, you can’t send more than a preset maximum number of reminders when using phone or text, which is a disappointing limitation.
Billing Tools
DrChrono’s billing tools allow you to automatically save all clinical data and notes as soon as you fill out a field. After that, coders and medical billers can log in to DrChrono to scrub, code and file your medical claims.The software also comes with extensive pending- and denied-claim tools.
You’ll also see clear indications of outstanding patient balances, and you can sort by claim filters. These helpful filters include:
- In Process at Clearinghouse
- In Process at Payer
- Payer Acknowledged
- Coordination of Benefits
- Rejected
- ERA Denied
- Missing Information
Notably, these features are mostly absent from DrChrono’s Prometheus and Hippocrates tiers, which prioritize electronic medical record (EMR) and practice management software over billing. However, you can create custom billing codes, auto-generated CMS 1500 forms, billing profiles and superbills with any tier.
Custom Charts
All DrChrono plans include customizable charts and templates. You can also use the system on an iPad to access free-drawing and text-addition capabilities. These features are ideal for marking a patient’s diagnostic images as you please. Through this function, you can also take live images of your patient with your device’s camera and draw on them. With the Hippocrates package and above, you get speech-to-text tools as well.
You can use DrChrono to load a different note-taking template for each appointment type. To do so, just click the Start Visit button after your patient checks in. You’ll then see a note-taking template that matches your current appointment type.
All DrChrono charts also include tags known as patient flags. These color-coded tags include (but aren’t limited to) the patient’s insurer, statement balance, preferred lab provider and VIP patient status.
DrChrono’s customizable charts overlap perfectly with your schedule, since you can also create custom preset appointment profiles. To optimize schedules, this tool can also set realistic time blocks for each appointment type.
Direct Messaging
All DrChrono tiers include direct messaging technology that lets you securely send patient documents and information. You can write and send these messages from the dashboard’s messaging center or your patients’ charts, but your communications will only reach other direct messaging platforms. DrChrono’s direct messaging tools don’t go to email inboxes.
E-Prescribing and Labs
Every DrChrono package includes the e-prescribing tools that come with all top EMR software, though the Prometheus level limits users to basic functions, including the following:
- Sending one, several or compound prescriptions
- Flagging potentially harmful interactions
- E-prescribing and detailing pharmacist instructions through fax, iPad or iPhone (no Android app for doctors)
- Searching for pharmacies based on a patient’s location
- Reviewing a patient’s full prescription history
The advanced DrChrono e-prescribing platform comes with tools for saving each provider’s preferred prescriptions and pharmacies. If you want to secure your advanced e-prescribing software with electronic prescriptions for controlled substances (EPCS), you can do so with all tiers except the introductory one.
DrChrono gives you extensive lab ordering features, such as tools for favoriting frequently ordered tests. However, the Prometheus tier doesn’t integrate with Labcorp and Quest Diagnostics.
Patient Education Tools
All DrChrono packages have patient education features, though the Prometheus tier doesn’t include patient access to custom library tools. DrChrono’s patient education suite spans both common and unusual conditions, plus important medical advice for before appointments or procedures.
Patient Reminders
DrChrono’s patient reminder technology is included in every tier, but unfortunately, there are monthly maximums for how many text and phone reminders you can send.
- Prometheus: 100 reminders
- Hippocrates: 150 reminders
- Apollo: 300 reminders
- Apollo Plus: 600 reminders
If you need more than your plan allows, you’ll need to pay 5 cents per text or 15 cents per phone call.
Revenue Cycle Management
DrChrono offers a solid suite of RCM services, but they’re available only with the Apollo Plus plan. This tier includes the following RCM functions:
- Financial performance reports
- Patient collections and statements
- A claim status dashboard
- Comprehensive coding services
- Denial management
- Accounts receivable management
- A dedicated billing manager, billing specialist and account manager for your practice
Reporting Suite
DrChrono’s reporting suite is quite comprehensive. You can use it to detect trends in financial performance and billing operations and react to them accordingly. All reports are fully customizable, and you can apply various filters.
If you’re on the Apollo Plus plan and use DrChrono’s RCM suite, you can easily view your claims reports, which show each claim’s status in the billing process. Additionally, DrChrono’s billers are indicated in the same places you’d typically see your staff biller listed. This structure gives you an unobstructed view of DrChrono’s approach to your RCM.
DrChrono Costs
To find the exact price your practice would pay, you’ll need to contact DrChrono for a custom quote. Before you do, we suggest looking closely at the plans on the vendor’s website to learn more about the differences among the tiers.
You can even try the platform before paying anything – DrChrono is one of the few medical software providers to offer a free trial. The 30-day trial period is an excellent opportunity for you to see if the software meets your needs and is easy to use.
DrChrono Setup
Setup typically takes four to eight weeks. We appreciate that no matter which package you purchase, you get thorough implementation and support tools, including the following:
- Free patient demographics importing
- A dedicated implementation contact and training team
- Free data migration (although depending on the format of the data, there may be an additional fee required)
DrChrono Customer Service
With DrChrono, you get access to the following types of customer service:
- An online help center
- A dedicated account manager
- Periodic, proactive account checks
- Educational content linked to certain features
- Live chat on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET
This comprehensive customer support can prove especially beneficial for small or new practices or those that are new to medical software. However, on one occasion that we attempted to reach the company’s sales team via the live chat tool, we never heard back. Another time, though, we received a response within two minutes.
DrChrono Drawbacks
Despite DrChrono’s numerous benefits, the software has two downsides.
- Limited text and phone patient reminders: If you want the software to call or text your patients to remind them about their appointments, you’ll face limits in doing so with all DrChrono tiers. These limits are especially low with the introductory plans.
- No Android app for doctors: DrChrono’s mobile app for doctors is available only for iOS devices. If your providers and staff need access on Android devices, this can quickly become a problem.
Methodology
We spent hours researching medical software. This process included software demonstrations, phone interviews and customer service calls, as well as analysis of customer service reviews available online, such as those listed on the Better Business Bureau website.
To thoroughly investigate DrChrono, we scoured its website for information, received a guided demo from company representatives and signed up for the vendor’s free trial. We took similar steps for all of our medical software recommendations, as you can see in our review of Tebra and our CareCloud review.
When choosing the best medical software for new practices in particular, we compared the services’ costs and essential features. We selected DrChrono as our top choice for new or small practices because it includes a robust set of tools for all plan levels.
DrChrono FAQs
Overall Value
We recommend DrChrono for …
- New or small practices.
- Practices that need one integrated system for EMR, practice management and medical billing.
- Providers who like free-drawing on patients’ diagnostic charts.
We don’t recommend DrChrono for …
- Practices that want to send large quantities of text and email appointment reminders.
- Doctors who need access to medical software on Android devices.
Natalie Hamingson contributed to the reporting and writing in this article.
