DrFirst Reviews

Pros

The concept of an app to send prescriptions is good, but the app has not functioned reliably.

Cons

Randomly, the app wont recognize my password, and there is no timely customer service. For this amount of money, the product needs to be dependable or have a reliable and timely help desk. Use a different company if you need dependable methods of prescribing in healthcare.

Pros

Nothing. It was a nightmare to get started, and resolving issues was a maze of roadblocks. Thanks for nothing!

Cons

Lacking in customer support. I put in a ticket, got no call, responded back with an email, and four days later got an email asking when its a good time to call! How about when you get the message?

Pros

Onboarding six years ago was fine; they were attentive to what I needed. Now it's horrible.

Cons

I have been with this company for a while, and they used to provide good service, but now their customer service via phone does not exist. Virtual assistants are rude, unable to help, or connect you with a supervisor or manager. I have been on hold now for 1 hour and 15 minutes. The email option just sends an email saying they received it, but thats it. I can't send any scripts today and will invest time in finding a new company. They claim they do not have my email, but the invoice, which I paid in full, has all my updated information. DO NOT DO IT! NOT WORTH THE HASSLE!

Pros

It occasionally works, but not enough for me to recommend it to anyone.

Cons

Customer service is nearly ZERO. Called multiple times, and the hold time is a minimum of 1 hour. Still unable to speak to a human being. Email support is very slow, taking several hours. Their answers were not helpful and did not solve my problem. This is very frustrating when relying on their service to prescribe medications to patients.

Pros

Sending prescriptions securely is crucial for our organization. With EPCS's multifactor authentication, we can safely send controlled substances. Pharmacies get prescriptions in real time and have them in their system before the client leaves the session.

Cons

The user interface is a bit cluttered. The landing page displays a lot of information.

Pros

It fulfills a requirement for electronic prescribing.

Cons

Everything routinely does not work. Support is awful, and when they do help, it has taken up to 4 hours to fix. Routinely gives errors. I simply cannot say enough bad things about this software or this company. Avoid at all costs!

Pros

Nothing. I have not gotten on the system yet.

Cons

This is my second attempt after several months to get this going. It's now day 4 and nothing but headaches.

Pros

Dr. First is straightforward for prescribing and checking the controlled substance database.

Cons

Dr. First does what it needs to do. My next request would be to integrate checking controlled medication databases from neighboring states, which we need to do in my practice.

Pros

The burden on clinical staff was lifted. The prescribing provider can do prior authorizations when writing the prescription.

Cons

Clinical staff does not have access to unmatched RX renewals, medications are all in lowercase, and you cannot organize meds by category, only alphabetically.

Pros

It's relatively inexpensive. Beware...you get what you pay for.

Cons

The software is unreliable. We have not had service for 3 days.

Pros

It's easy to use and navigate when sending prescriptions.

Cons

Sometimes the prescriptions do not submit to the pharmacy (even though you have entered the password to send it). It will go to a prescription report tab, waiting for you to input your password again and then resubmit. Also, patients will call the pharmacy, and the pharmacy will say they never got the script, even though Rcopia has a timestamp of when it was delivered. This happens a lot, so I am beginning to think its the program, not the individual pharmacies.

Pros

I used to love a long list of superior features of this platform, which is why I continued to buy it in addition to an EHR with eRx. The most helpful feature was that, for many patients (depending on insurance), their medication refill history going back two years could often be assembled even for new patients. (Now it's only a year and takes multiple steps.) The best thing is still that it remembers and retains prior Sigs.

Cons

Their long-touted "upgrade" (promoted for 2 years before implementation) has drastically worsened our workflows. Actions that took one click now take numerous clicks, switching sections, re-entering names, etc. The functions that have always been cumbersome are unchanged or worse. Customer support seems as mystified as we are about these issues.

Pros

It is easy to check what medications have been sent and to which pharmacy. It's also easy to electronically prescribe and switch between pharmacies to send the meds. It lists if the electronic script was received by the pharmacy, which is handy when helping patients or knowing how long their supply should last. Our EMR links with this program, so all our patients are automatically entered into the system, making it easy to prescribe.

Cons

I wish it would show when the pharmacy filled the script versus just when it was sent in.

Pros

I like that as an administrative user, I have access to all patient and pharmacy information needed to support our physicians. The detailed information is helpful in knowing not only if a prescription was sent to the pharmacy but also in seeing pending prescriptions that may be written but unsigned.

Cons

The prior authorization system is not always consistent. I am not sure if this is a software issue or if only certain pharmacies and insurances are contracted to do this. It would be nice to process all prior authorizations in one system.

Pros

It makes writing prescriptions for your patients quite easy. No more lost prescriptions by patients or phone calls from the pharmacy trying to decipher your handwriting. It makes refills easy. The mobile app is very simple to use. Ask for a multiyear discount when subscribing. Lots of free training to use the software.

Cons

The cost to port all the patient info is somewhat expensive and does not include new patients. Other than that, it is a good product.

Pros

The price is reasonable, and overall, it is easy to use. It is compatible with most EMR systems as well.

Cons

Customer support can be difficult. It took our practice a while to get started with it. There were a few glitches in the beginning, but they were worked out.

Pros

The interface is intuitive and simple to use. It can be accessed from any computer, iPhone, or iPad. It has patient medication and health history and does a good job of pointing out drug interactions between providers. It has easy, secure prescribing for controlled substances.

Cons

The iPhone/iPad app was slow, but they seem to have corrected this flaw with their new mobile app. In the past, there were too many "flip through screens," but the new interface seems to have fixed this as well.

Pros

It's a good e-prescribing system as long as you don't need to contact support.

Cons

I have worked with this company since its inception. In the beginning, they were amazing and helped us through any problems. Now, they do not respond to tickets, do not follow up, and literally cannot fix problems with their reporting systems. Do not think you will be able to meet meaningful use while using Dr. First because that is all a lie. They even have a scam where they get you to pay a huge fee and "guarantee" you will meet meaningful use. We spent over a year trying to fix one report and missed meaningful use for 2 providers because of their system. Now, they have the worst customer service of any major company I deal with. They hire tech support people who know less about the Dr. First system than I do. I cannot wait to get away from these guys as they are giving electronic prescribing a bad name. Recently, one of our doctors ability to use their patient dashboard stopped working, so he could not provide patient education on diagnoses or drugs he was prescribing. Their support team spent over an hour on the phone describing the problem but never followed up or fixed it. We now use these features within our EHR to not miss out on meaningful use dollars, which our clinic needs to survive. If you ask for a supervisor, they will eventually hang up on you. No one in customer support ever has a supervisor available, and although they say someone will call back, they never do in any way, shape, or form.

Pros

Pharmacies haven't adopted eRx enough yet to make this efficient. We receive too many calls from patients saying the pharmacies have not received the eRx or don't accept eRx (even though the Surescripts database provided to DrFirst indicates the pharmacy is accepting). As such, patients are left waiting in pharmacies for meds that have not been prepared. My office has to repeat work done during the patients visit. It wastes time for the patient, doctor, and office staff. Paper prescribing is far more reliable and efficient. Prescribing controlled substances (EPCS) is even more unreliable. It's nothing more than a glorified secure email service, but the emails often don't arrive!

Cons

Tech support is minimally useful when it comes to structural issues that pharmacies aren't fully participating in.