Electronic health records (EHR) play a crucial role in streamlining workflows, improving patient care, and enhancing practice efficiency. Their growing adoption is evident—according to the National Center for Health Statistics, EHR usage in residential care communities rose from 36% to 48% between 2020 and 2022.
This brings forth the need to choose a solution designed to cater to the physicians’ practice and requirements. In this regard, NextGen Office and Practice Fusion are two notable options – each offering competitive benefits tailored for healthcare professionals.
But how do you decide which one is the right pick for you?
In this blog, we’ll provide an in-depth comparison of NextGen Office vs Practice Fusion, exploring their key features, pricing structures, and user feedback to help you make an informed decision.
Head-On Comparison
NextGen Office EHR is cloud-based software designed for small to mid-sized practices. It offers e-prescription, medical billing, lab interoperability, and specialty-specific templates within a user-friendly interface. Ranked as the #1 EHR for small practices by Black Book Research, it focuses on clinical efficiency.
In contrast, Practice Fusion EHR is designed specifically for independent practices with integrated billing services. The software offers intuitive EHR and billing solutions along with features like e-prescription, telehealth, and patient engagement. With a strong emphasis on usability, its customer-driven approach aims to simplify workflows and improve patient care.
NextGen Office Vs Practice Fusion: At A Glance
Feature
NextGen Office
Practice Fusion
Practice Management
✓
✓
Revenue Cycle Management
✓
✓
Voice Recognition
✓
✗
Interoperability
✓
✓
Telehealth
✓
✓
Chart Retrieval Service
✗
✓
Predictive Scheduler
✓
✗
Integrated Clearinghouse
✓
✓
Pros And Cons
PROS
Smooth navigation from charts to medication
Robust billing tracking
Integrated billing for a seamless financial process
Flexible templates for patient information management
Easy to learn and adapt
Enhanced efficiency with dot phrases
Ability to color code the appointments
Highly customizable and adaptable
CONS
Customization can be time-consuming
Response time of customer service can be slow
Users have reported frequent downtimes
Lack of electronic devices integration
Side By Side Feature Comparison
NextGen Office and Practice Fusion are top EHR platforms designed to enhance patient outcomes and improve operational efficiency. Below is a breakdown of their core features for a direct comparison.
Patient Engagement
NextGen Office offers a comprehensive patient engagement platform that includes patient self-scheduling, allowing them to book appointments online. The solution also encompasses pre-visit workflows that include reminders, intake forms, and contactless check-in. It also enables secure communication by functioning as a virtual front door for your practice. NextGen Office’s integration with Promptly further enhances patient engagement by improving process efficiency.
Practice Fusion offers a solution that benefits both your practice and your patients. It includes easy and secure communication to improve patient satisfaction. Patients get quick access to personal health records (PHR), scheduling, and care instructions. Practice Fusion also partnered up with Updox to improve patient engagement by incorporating premium features.
Winner: NextGen Office edges out Practice Fusion due to its integrated patient communication tools and support for patient journeys.
Telehealth
NextGen Office offers a HIPAA-compliant telehealth/telemedicine platform to provide a quality experience to both practitioners and patients. The feature is already integrated into the solution and supports virtual consultations in HD on any device, anywhere. It also includes documentation, group sessions, guest visits, screen sharing, and follow-up appointment scheduling.
Practice Fusion provides telehealth solutions through integration with a third-party platform called Updox. The feature allows in-practice messaging to communicate and share patient information with the workforce. It also helps improve patient engagement with HIPAA-compliant text messaging, video chats, and appointment reminders.
Winner: NextGen Office takes the lead due to its completely integrated telehealth feature.
Revenue Cycle Management
NextGen Office provides a well-integrated revenue cycle management (RCM) service that includes claims management, payment management, medical coding, credentialing, support for compliance, patient call center services, revenue cycle analytics, and more. Moreover, it increases revenue integrity, prevents denials, and boosts revenue while preventing denials. NextGen Office RCM enhances the patient experience and thrives to achieve optimal financial outcomes.
Practice Fusion also enhances patient care with integrated EHR and billing services aimed at improving the revenue cycle processes. The feature helps coordinate with payers via a payer enrollment dashboard, compliance tools, and claims scrubbing. It also manages insurance and patient payment posting, refunds and credit management, and denial management.
Winner: It’s a tie between NextGen Office and Practice Fusion as both solutions offer an extensive suite of services with effective RCM.
Interoperability
NextGen Office enables cost-effective, scalable, and secure integration with other healthcare facilities. It also allows for easy access to clinical records while reducing the time spent on manual data entry. NextGen Office facilitates the users by providing them with real-time access to patient records across billions of encounters with Carequality and the Surescripts Record Locator and Exchange.
Practice Fusion enables users and patients to connect with third-party applications using FHIR-standardized application programming interfaces (APIs) for secure data exchange and third-party applications. The technology also allows practitioners to share the data with other healthcare facilities or partners to learn about a patient’s condition.
Winner: NextGen Office wins this round for its access to health information and effective functionalities.
Ease Of Use
NextGen Office offers a web-based SaaS cloud solution with ease of use and maintenance. It does not require an expensive consultant or an ongoing internal IT resource. NextGen Office makes it easy to find the updated codes promptly and customize the reports per your needs.
Practice Fusion offers an easy-to-adapt and use interface with a quick implementation rate. Users can readily import patients’ records and implement the EHR without taking up much time. The implementation team also ensures a smooth transition and minimal disruption with no downtime.
Winner: Practice Fusion takes over NextGen Office by providing a more intuitive interface with quick implementation time.
Pricing Comparison
NextGen Office offers a customizable pricing model – tailored to the specific needs of practitioners. The vendor provides flexible pricing options to its users based on various factors such as their practice size, features, functionalities, and other such requirements.
Practice Fusion, on the other hand, offers a straightforward and simple pricing structure, starting from $199 per provider per month with a required annual commitment. This model also includes three signing staff licenses and unlimited non-signing staff licenses.
Overall, Practice Fusion offers a more transparent and comparatively affordable pricing structure, while NextGen Office has customizable options that might fit best for users looking for a flexible plan.
Looking for a complete breakdown of EHR costs? Read our comprehensive guide on the cost of EHR in 2025.
Disclaimer: Pricing is subject to change.
What Users Have To Say
Users highlight different strengths and weaknesses of both NextGen Office and Practice Fusion. NextGen Office is frequently praised for facilitating increased productivity for users. They also appreciate its advanced technology that aids the success of users. One user from a hospital and healthcare organization has even highlighted its user-friendly feature and cost-effectiveness.
However, some users have shown concerns about the challenges they face when integrating the software with billing and scheduling. Users encounter occasional communication issues while contacting customer support for inquiries.
Practice Fusion is often appreciated for its affordability and easy adaptability. The users also find the navigation system user-friendly, along with the charting and scheduling feature.
Mark Sklar, M.D., F.A.C.P, while explaining his experience with Practice Fusion, states,
Prior to using Practice Fusion, I used paper records. Practice Fusion’s cloud-based solution using AWS has enabled me to have access to my patients records at all times. It also allows me to easily prescribe and renew medications. I can create lab flow sheets which is helpful in comparing lab values. I can access valuable patient data using the reporting feature. It makes it easy to keep in touch with referring physicians by sending them consultation reports and test results.
Practice Fusion has made it possible to be more available for my patients at all times. I can follow them in the office or away from it just as easily.
However, on the downside, some users have reported its limited mobile functionality and occasional downtimes that may affect the quality of their work.
NextGen Office Or Practice Fusion: Which One Suits You The Best?
NextGen Office and Practice Fusion each offer essential features that cater to different types of healthcare management. NextGen Office offers state-of-the-art patient engagement tools with a HIPAA-compliant telemedicine facility that might make it a good fit for small- to medium-sized enterprises that require extensive integration and financial tracking.
Practice Fusion, on the other hand, serves its users with a simple and straightforward interface with a significantly short implementation time that makes it a practical option for smaller-sized businesses and independent practitioners.
Eventually, the decision depends on your priorities and requirements, such as features, budget, financial processes, and integrations. Make sure that you select the right EHR that streamlines your workflow and provides security for the data.
