“Polished presence”

Pros

Right from launch, the finished website looked very polished and patients regularly compliment us on it as a strong gateway to our practice. The team that handled the initial setup was outstanding and very responsive and if I remember correctly, that onboarding period took around two months. Since then whichever support rep has been assigned to our account has consistently performed at a high level. My current rep usually gets back to requests within hours or at most by the next day although their hands seem tied by what the company allows them to do. Being able to evaluate whether advertising or promotional efforts are actually driving patient volume is extremely important and the software does offer some useful data for that. Of course, you still need to compare it against your actual patient numbers and billing results to determine whether the return on investment matches what you are paying for.

Cons

After the strong first impression of getting the service started some issues became clear over the first year and we are now in our third year using it. The startup fee feels very much like a loss leader for the company because once the website is built and the secondary review sites are in place, there is very little ongoing involvement from them. I would much rather pay upfront for the actual setup hours and then only pay maintenance based on the real amount of work being done. By the second year, the annual fee feels excessive for what you are receiving. Another major frustration is that the patient communication templates are rigid and not customizable so you are basically stuck with their cookie-cutter responses. We have been asking for more control over what gets communicated to our patients for more than 30 months so the messaging can reflect what we actually want to say and that still is not available. To me, that is a serious flaw in PatientPop and the main reason we are likely to end the relationship. They also market improved search rankings but the keywords they target are not truly the high-value terms patients in our area would actually search for. So while you may see a lot of number-one rankings, they are often for search terms that very few, if any, potential patients in your geographic market are really using.

“Full-featured product”

Pros

The layout is very easy to read and it includes just about everything a doctor's office needs to keep patient information organized.

Cons

The automatic messaging feature is definitely convenient and I appreciate that Kareo makes it simple to use. That said, it can feel a bit overwhelming at times and too many messages may end up turning customers away.

“Well arranged tab layout”

Pros

The simplicity of the EHR really stands out, especially having the key clinical notes pages grouped together in one place. The tab layout is also well arranged which makes moving through the system feel natural.

Cons

Scheduling can be tough because appointments are hard to get and the early part of the agreement and training process moved pretty slowly.

“Lets us send reminders”

Pros

Deployment was very simple and the scheduling integration fit into our workflow without much trouble. It covers a lot of ground across different parts of the practice which has been really helpful. We're also able to send appointment reminders and other patient communications easily and the ongoing SEO monitoring has delivered impressive results for our new online presence.

Cons

One unexpected downside was just how many phone calls started coming in after our web presence was optimized. The increase was so big that we had to stop sending direct web calls to our main number and route them to a separate dedicated phone line instead.

“Valuable reports and quick navigation”

Pros

The reporting options are really useful and the hyperlinks make it simple to move around without having to leave the screen you're on.

Cons

Adding insurance details in the demographics section is much more complicated than it should be.

“Cheaper than competitors”

Pros

Having both an iPad app and a web version that I can access from anywhere is definitely a plus. It's also fairly cheaper than competitors like drchrono. It used to be free which was valuable at the time because it gave me a chance to test it out. I also really appreciate that they've finally improved patient messaging on the iPad version.

Cons

Very little happens automatically so almost everything has to be done manually and it even misses basic things like autosave for notes. The whole experience feels messy overall. It seems more suitable for a small or medium-sized setup so I wouldn't recommend it for a hospital because it doesn't offer the level of coordination support needed there. It also only works with online pharmacies in the US or at least not in the country where I practice.

“Bad support”

Pros

After months of issues, it does end up being somewhat helpful for billing. My account rep has consistently been pleasant to deal with, even though they often can't answer a lot of questions, say they'll follow up and then never do.

Cons

The training is terrible and the support is just as bad. You're basically left on your own when it comes to setting up insurance companies and getting started. There are free alternatives available and if you can use one of those, do it because paying for its training and support feels like a complete waste of money.

“Supports a broad range of medical specialties”

Pros

It works really well for handling billing and estimates. It supports a broad range of medical specialties and the customization options make it adaptable to different practice needs.

Cons

With new medications entering the market all the time, the software needs small updates and fairly frequent adjustments to keep everything current.

“Does the job”

Pros

It does what it's supposed to do, feels fairly user-friendly and works well as a system for storing electronic medical records.

Cons

The starting price makes more sense if you have several employees but for a solo practice, the cost was hard to justify. I stayed with it until I came across a more affordable system.

“Limited collections workflow”

Pros

The scheduling part of the program is simple to use and can be customized without much trouble. It also handles multi-office practices well which is definitely a plus.

Cons

The biggest issue is the limitations in Collections. On top of that, the workflow for managing patient and insurance accounts isn't customizable which makes the system feel too restrictive.

“simple to work with”

Pros

This tool was very simple to navigate and I didn't run into any issues with the tutorials when learning how to use the program.

Cons

when patients brought in their medical insurance information, I wasn't able to verify it.

“Strong marketing tools”

Pros

It works really well for marketing and comes with some impressive features that are useful to work with. There's a lot the software does well but the company really needs to improve its customer support.

Cons

Customer support has been poor, with slow or no responses when help is needed. On top of that, there are bugs in the software that create problems and affect the overall experience.

“Poor fit for pediatrics”

Pros

It's simple to use and has a layout that feels a lot like the app which is honestly the only positive thing I can say about Kareo. I'll be switching back to our previous software as soon as possible.

Cons

The growth charts are awful and the vaccine section is so poorly done that it makes this system completely unsuitable for Pediatrics. On top of that, customer service is terrible and the response time is far too slow.

“Impressive functionality”

Pros

A lot of the functionality worked really well and there were quite a few features I appreciated. There's one feature in particular that I no longer have and I definitely miss having it.

Cons

It wasn't a good fit for practices that work with families. On top of that, their support is outsourced and the wait times on hold were usually very long.

“Friendly and patient tech support team”

Pros

Working with the sales rep and tech support has been a really positive experience, they've both been friendly and pleasant to deal with. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone searching for software for a medical or healthcare practice.

Cons

At the beginning, it can feel a bit overwhelming. There are a lot of features packed in so it takes some time to get used to everything and understand all the options available.

“Built for smaller practices”

Pros

Built with smaller medical practices in mind rather than large groups, this program offers the core tools needed to manage a business and support a growing practice successfully. Since it's cloud-based, providers and staff can get into the system while they're on the go which is especially helpful. It's also a real advantage when you have off-site team members such as billers, who need access to the program.

Cons

It originally started out as a free program without different pricing tiers but now some features that used to be included at no cost are restricted to higher plans. If you were using those features before the paid version was introduced, you now have to pay for that level to keep them. On top of that, customer support is hard to reach and tends to provide information in pieces instead of clearly explaining how to get the most out of the program's capabilities.

“Doesn’t take long to get used to it”

Pros

Getting familiar with it doesn't take much time at all and that's easily its biggest strength.

Cons

The support team and help center really need to step up. At times they're quite disappointing and it feels like the number of requests they handle is more than their staff can manage.

“unauthorized charges”

Pros

The dashboard was simple to navigate and made it easier for us to keep all the different items they were handling organized.

Cons

I was given the wrong impression about how much I would actually be able to customize on my website. I brought up my concerns and while I was expecting a scheduled conference call and had been told we would reconnect the following week about our contract, they withdrew four months of payments from our account all at once the very next day. I never approved that and they did not handle my concerns appropriately. They were aware that I was already unhappy with the service and it felt like they rushed to collect the money anyway. I raised several problems related to my account but we never got proper answers or acceptable solutions.

“Better reporting with Tebra”

Pros

It doesn't take long to get comfortable with this software and it makes note entry much simpler for front-line staff. That has helped improve reporting overall.

Cons

Customer support can be a little slow to respond. Also, when trying to use the troubleshooting tools to fix an issue on your own, it's hard to find clear, specific answers.

“Complete set of features”

Pros

The platform feels user-friendly while still offering a full set of features. I especially appreciate that the Assessment and Plan can be separated by diagnosis which keeps documentation much more organized. The activity log is also complete and laid out in chronological order so it is easy to follow what happened and when. Sending information to colleagues by e-fax is very convenient as well.

Cons

prescribing medications is a problem since there is no default SIG and the prescriber has to build the SIG from scratch every single time. The FaceSheet also cannot be customized or rearranged the way I would want. Another downside is that when a note is amended, the system does not actually revise and relabel the note as amended, instead, it leaves the original note in place and adds the changes at the end.