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AdvancedMD Vs. Athenahealth: Comparing Top EMR Solutions For Your Practice

AdvancedMD Vs. Athenahealth: Comparing Top EMR Solutions For Your Practice

Selecting the best electronic health record (EHR)/electronic medical record (EMR) solution is one of the most important decisions for any healthcare practice. The right solution can enhance patient record management, streamline workflows, and improve patient satisfaction. AdvancedMD and athenahealth are two of the most widely used EHR/EMR platforms, offering a wide range of features to help healthcare organizations address their daily challenges.

This blog will give a comparative analysis of these platforms to assist you in finding the best fit for your practice.

Head-On Comparison

AdvancedMD is a cloud-based EHR and practice management solution designed for healthcare professionals across various specialties. It offers enhanced tools for both outpatient and inpatient care, with a focus on fields like ophthalmology.

The software is well-known for providing various solutions to reduce administrative burdens, increase patient satisfaction, and optimize operations. Designed to address several fundamental issues in healthcare systems, including appointment calendars, billing, and documentation, AdvancedMD EHR helps healthcare professionals spend more time handling patients and providing quality care.

Similarly, athenahealth is also a cloud-based software for healthcare organizations of all sizes. It is a unified platform that integrates many administrative and medical services, such as billing, scheduling, and revenue cycle management.

Additionally, the platform is known for its patient engagement features that facilitate patient interaction and contribute to the improvement of patient outcomes. athenahealth deals with various healthcare challenges like administrative tasks and excessive paperwork to help medical practitioners provide better care to patients.

AdvancedMD Vs. Athenahealth: At A Glance

Feature	AdvancedMD	athenahealth
Billing	Provides several medical billing tools, such as payment processing, A/R control center, and medical coding	Offers integrated billing, medical coding, and claims resolution tools
Integrations	An open API architecture to connect with several third-party applications, including Zocdoc and Weave	Has its own athenahealth Marketplace to integrate with several third-party applications with 800+ API endpoints
Security And Compliance	Partnership with Intraprise Health to ensure security and privacy and offer breach risk assessment software	It’s HIPAA, HITECH/ARRA, and ACA compliant and uses technical, administrative, and physical safeguards to protect data
Mobile Access	A suite of apps with specific functions, accessible on Desktop, iOS, and Android operating systems	athenaPatient mobile app to support mobile access for on-the-go patient data management
Scheduling	Numerous scheduling tools, including quick look summaries, appointment reminders, and patient room tracking	Online self-appointment scheduling options with AthenaOne that can be booked via API
Telehealth	Efficient telemedicine and telehealth platform full of automation functionalities, such as self-service scheduling and appointment reminders	HIPAA-compliant telehealth visits, from appointment scheduling to billing, using athenaOne from any computer or mobile device with an integrated camera and web browser
Patient Engagement	Improves patient experience via features like patient kiosk, patient portal, and patient consent forms	Provides a secure communication channel, patient portal, and patient payment tools
Document Management	Allows healthcare providers to import and scan documents, such as images, consent forms, insurance cards, and other images, and upload them to EHR and PM	Supports creation and modification of several document types via API, including lab results, admin/clinical documents, and diagnostic results
Support Options	Includes a status center to communicate important information to customers, along with phone and chat support options	Consists of web, chat, phone, and email support, along with a customer success manager
Cloud-based Accessibility	Seamless cloud-based compatibility	Cloud-based EHR services

Pros And Cons

Side By Side Comparison

AdvancedMD and athenahealth are two famous EHR software that provide different features to manage the functioning of healthcare practices. The following section will give you a comparison of these features to help you determine which software is most suitable for your medical practice.

Scheduling

AdvancedMD: It provides a multitude of scheduling options to optimize productivity and minimize patient no-shows. For instance, the auto-reminders tool informs patients before their respective appointments, while the schedule snapshot offers a view of the appointments received by a practitioner in a single day. Moreover, the software provides patients’ contact information, clinical notes, and appointments in the calendar through its quick-look summaries tool, providing ease to the practitioner to schedule appointments. The system also automatically refills new slots whenever they appear to be free.
athenahealth: The software offers flexible reservation options because of its online appointment scheduling, which is available through API. While not all consultations can be booked online, the system enables patients to select the type of visit. It helps patients look for available time slots and minimize administrative workload while simultaneously enhancing patient satisfaction.

Winner: AdvancedMD takes the lead here because of its wider range of options in scheduling such as appointment reminders, quick-look summaries, and patient room scheduling.

Patient Portal

AdvancedMD: The platform improves patient satisfaction and streamlines communication through its patient portal. Patients can send prescription renewal requests via a HIPAA-compliant online portal, message clinical or billing staff, and conveniently pay bills online with a credit card.
athenahealth: It provides the athenaPatient app, which allows patients to view their personal health information, communicate safely with the care providers, view appointments, and even book appointments themselves. The application enables patients to manage their healthcare at their own convenience, increasing involvement.

Winner: athenahealth is a better option due to its mobile-friendly athenaPatient app.

Billing

AdvancedMD: It provides several medical billing solutions to enhance practice revenue, including an accounts receivable (A/R) control center and coding tools for overseeing receivables. AdvancedMD also offers a claims inspector feature for claim scrubbing. Moreover, the scheduling and front office solutions enable efficient payments, and a centralized billing feature centralizes and manages all data in a single platform.
athenahealth: The software specifically focuses on improving A/R financial productivity by simplifying day-to-day tasks for the revenue cycle and offering complete insights. Its billing rules engine is refined to the latest industry specifications for cleaner claims submissions. Athenahealth also provides an integrated revenue cycle performance metrics dashboard. Furthermore, the software frequently updates to keep the system current while maintaining continuity and avoiding any disruptions in the workflow.

Winner: It is a draw as Advanced MD is better for practices that want a fully integrated billing and scheduling system, whereas athenahealth is better for those who want up-to-date compliance and RCM visibility.

Telehealth

AdvancedMD: The telemedicine solution is developed to bring quality care beyond clinical boundaries and is equipped with numerous tools for optimum workflow. It means that clinicians can reach out to patients via two-way video, secure email, text, and other means of telecommunication, irrespective of distance. The consultations can be done conveniently through videos, still images, the patient portal, via remote patient monitoring.
athenahealth: The system supports vital patient care and helps maintain schedule density with HIPAA-compliant telehealth visits. It offers a seamless patient experience by integrating with athenaOne’s email and text communication channels. athenahealth supports group video conferencing with up to four participants, a customizable video window for better examination and documentation, and automated patient outreach through familiar communication channels. Patients can join telehealth visits without the need for additional software or integrations.

Winner: It is a close call, but athenahealth’s fully embedded solution with no additional software requirements and group video conferencing capabilities gives it an edge.

Integrations

AdvancedMD: The platform offers a flexible integration system to ensure seamless interoperability with various software and applications. The practice has an open AI structure, which allows the software to connect easily with third-party systems and enhance workflows. It is adaptable to several types of practices, including billing service companies, and it also supports interoperability exchanges.
athenahealth: It has over 800 API endpoints that enable road-level integrations to extend the platform to different applications. The software exposes clinical data from HL7 and C-CDA sources and other systems in real time to users as they work through their applications. Moreover, athenahealth has its own marketplace partners to promote and distribute on a large scale.

Winner: athenahealth leads in this category with its extensive API access and support for industry-standard frameworks, facilitating a higher degree of integration and interoperability.

Pricing Plans Comparison

AdvancedMD offers the following three pricing plans:

RCM Pricing – 4% – 8% of total practice collections
Software Pricing – Custom
Build A Bundle – Custom

In contrast, athenahealth has a simple and transparent pricing plan. Its cost depends on the total collections of your healthcare organization, varying as per patient volume. Moreover, the platform does not have any hidden charges, and it allows customers to cancel prescriptions at any time.

Overall, AdvancedMD provides flexible pricing options that can be tailored to specific practice needs, while athenahealth offers a straightforward pricing model that is easy to understand and manage. Thus, practices looking for customized plans may prefer AdvancedMD, whereas those seeking transparency and no hidden fees might lean towards athenahealth.

What Users Have To Say?

Users of AdvancedMD like the software because it has features and settings that can be adjusted to fit the practice. This platform is appreciated for its diverse features, such as scheduling, billing, and an active patient engagement system. However, there have been complaints from its users about initial challenges due to the time-consuming software installation.

athenahealth is recognized by users for being easy to navigate and providing good customer service. The platform is highly praised for its reporting and telehealth services. However, some users have complained that the software may not suit the specific needs of small practices.

Our Verdict: Which EMR System Is The Right Fit For You?

AdvancedMD and athenahealth both offer strong solutions to medical professionals. AdvancedMD is notable for its flexibility and interoperability, which makes it suitable for practices that need certain features and optimized workflows. On the other hand, athenahealth is praised on account of its interfaces and broad telemedicine offering. The system is recommended for practices that prioritize ease of use and integration with other EHRs.

Some of the factors that should be taken into consideration when choosing an EMR system include the practice’s workflow, financial capacity, and specialty type. Knowing how each system will integrate itself into the day-to-day functionality can help improve efficiency. Thus, the ultimate decision of whether to select AdvancedMD or athenahealth depends on the particular needs and the features required by your medical practice.

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