Starting Price: $199/provider/month Starting Price: $44.95/provider/month
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Electronic health record (EHR) systems play a crucial role in managing daily practice operations for independent providers. Since the medical software market has so many options, finding the right tool may require thorough research.  

Practice Fusion and Office Ally are two widely recognized platforms that offer specialized features such as built-in billing tools, patient intake, appointment reminders, and more for solo providers. However, they both tend to differ with regards to their service delivery, customization options, and user experience.  

This Practice Fusion vs Office Ally comparison aims to break down key features, pros, cons, user verdicts, and pricing details of both tools. Whether you are switching towards EHRs or upgrading your existing system, this blog will help you make an informed decision.  

Let’s begin! 

Head-On Comparison

Practice Fusion by Veradigm is a comprehensive cloud-based EHR and billing services platform. It enables smaller and independent practices to streamline their operations and focus more on delivering quality care. Additionally, it caters to clinical needs such as e-prescribing, medical billing, charting, and more. Currently holding 43 million clinical records, Practice Fusion enables users to leverage to a large healthcare ecosystem where they can connect with multiple labs and imaging centers.  

Office Ally Practice Mate is a popular healthcare management system that caters to vast requirements of practices. Utilizing cloud-based deployment helps the providers reduce administrative burdens and optimize key processes such as revenue cycle management, clinical workflows, patient care management, and more. Serving a large client base of over 80,000 healthcare centers across the US, Office Ally is considered one of the most suitable options for independent physician associations (IPA). 

Practice Fusion Vs Office Ally: At A Glance

Feature 

Practice Fusion 

Office Ally 

Billing And Claims Management 

✓ 

✓ 

E-Prescribe 

✓ 

✓ 

Patient Reminders 

✓ 

✓ 

Patient Intake 

✓ 

✓ 

Clinical Charting 

✓ 

✓ 

Lab Integration 

✓ 

✓  

Denial Tracking 

✓ 

✓ 

Comparing Strengths And Weaknesses

Practice FusionOffice Ally 
PROS
  • Reduces the need to manually record patient visit details and manage documents
  • Ensures faster prescribing through e-prescribing functionality
  • Allows to pin notes for future visit reference 
  • Empowers patients to book appointments themselves
  • Enables filing claims accurately
  • Provides color codes in calendar to differentiate appointments 
CONS
  • May not offer customizations for reporting
  • Frequent logouts can cause disruptions
  • May require support to alter payments after posting
  • Lacks multiple options for check-ins

Side-By-Side Feature Comparison

Billing And Claims Management

Practice Fusion’s billing and claims management solution focuses on automation of key tasks such as claim scrubbing, claim submissions, payment posting, and more. It provides a dedicated team for managing the revenue cycle that helps in maximizing the collections. It offers advanced financial reporting tools that enhance the transparency of billing performance and simplifies administrative workings. Additionally, it helps providers manage denials, verify insurance eligibility, and deliver statements to patients. Overall, Practice Fusion ensures accuracy and improved reimbursement rates for medical care providers.

Office Ally provides advanced billing and claims management tools. The Practice Mate and Service Center modules enable the healthcare providers to optimize and have full visibility into the overall revenue cycle operations. Its clearinghouse service center can process over one billion transactions annually along with electronic claims generation for faster procedure. Moreover, users get features such as real-time insurance eligibility checks, automated claims processing and HIPAA-compliant medical billing transactions. It not only empowers practices to process payments but also enables them to improve cashflow and financial performance. Also, it encompasses revenue recovery functionalities, helping providers to mitigate the risk of revenue loss. These combined set of functionalities help providers to focus more on patient care and reduce administrative burdens.

Winner: Office Ally wins, particularly due to its enhanced focus on revenue recovery, and full-service clearinghouse.

E-Prescribe

Practice Fusion offers a certified e-prescribing feature that enables providers to instantly send prescriptions, including controlled substances, directly from the patient’s chart. It connects with a wide range of e-prescribing-enabled pharmacies. The module also encompasses automatic drug-drug and allergy interaction checks, formulary verification, prior authorization tools, and refill management. Additionally, it enhances patient safety along with smooth processing of medication orders. Also, Practice Fusion empowers providers to track fulfillment, reconcile medications, reduce prescription fraud, and even offer ‘eCoupons’ to lower patient costs.

Office Ally’s OA-Rx is a fully integrated, award-winning electronic prescribing tool that supports practices for medication management workflows. Certified for electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS), OA-Rx offers features such as prescribing, renewals, change requests, and interaction checks. Moreover, it helps in identifying formulary alternatives and prior authorizations of different medicines. Also, it helps improve patient safety and medication adherence by highlighting potential risks and refilling medications automatically.

Winner: Practice Fusion wins this as its incentive of e-coupons for lowering patient costs and countrywide pharmacy connectivity make it stand out.

Patient Reminders

The patient reminders capability of Practice Fusion helps in reducing no-shows and improving overall patient satisfaction through engagement tools. It enables providers to deliver secure, automated appointment notifications that keep patients in the loop. Moreover, it sends reminders via text, voice, and email for telehealth and in-person visits. This module is available in languages such as English and Spanish. These tools help keep communication consistent, convenient, and HIPAA-compliant.

Office Ally offers ‘Reminder Mate’ module, which is a powerful and fully automated appointment reminder solution. It reduces no-shows, last-minute cancellations, and missed appointments that help practices manage time efficiently. The customizable multi-channel reminders through text, phone calls, and email in sixteen different languages ensure precise communication to patients. Additionally, patients are empowered to confirm, cancel, or reschedule appointments, improving practice resource allocation and patient convenience.

Winner: Office Ally wins here due to its wide variety of language support, comprehensive customization options, and multi-channel reminders.

Patient Intake

Online check-in service by Practice Fusion allows patients to complete intake forms remotely before their appointments. These forms are fully customizable and connected directly with the EHR which automatically fills the patient’s chart note. This feature not only improves the accuracy of submitted information but also shortens waiting times and enhances overall care efficiency. Practices benefit from faster intake workflows and more meaningful patient encounters, all without the need for paper-based processes.

Office Ally provides ‘Intake Pro’ module which is an efficient and flexible patient intake and check-in solution. It is designed to streamline front-office workflows and enhance patient satisfaction. It also allows patients to independently fill out customizable intake and registration forms through an office tablet or a personal device.

Winner: Practice Fusion wins for offering a more clinically integrated, patient-friendly, and workflow-enhancing online check-in experience.

Clinical Charting

Practice Fusion’s clinical charting is designed for speed, flexibility, and provider satisfaction, shaped by feedback from over 112,000 healthcare professionals. It enables efficient documentation through specialty-specific templates, customizable favorite lists, and note assist shortcuts. Providers can chart naturally using keyword-based diagnosis, code searches, integrated dictation tools, and longitudinal patient views with flowsheets.

Office Ally simplifies clinical charting across various medical specialties. With customizable SOAP notes and comprehensive documentation tools, it enables providers to chart patient encounters efficiently and manage patient accounts seamlessly.

Winner: Practice Fusion wins again due to its provider-centric charting features with specialty-specific templates.

Pricing Plans For Practice Fusion And Office Ally

Practice Fusion offers a straightforward pricing option starting at $199/provider/month with a minimum annual commitment. The plan includes three signing staff licenses and unlimited non-signing staff licenses. The vendor also offers a free trial for fourteen days to thoroughly test the system without requiring credit card details.  

Office Ally offers multiple subscription-based pricing plans. For Practice Software, The Clearinghouse and Practice Management plan is for free. whereas the Electronic Health Record costs $44.95/provider/month. For Clearinghouse and Revenue Cycle Side, basic Clearinghouse plan is free. However, EDI Clearinghouse and Revenue Recovery are offered at custom rates.  

Disclaimer: The pricing is subject to change.  

What Users Have To Say

Users generally appreciate Practice Fusion for its simplicity and ease of use. It is also praised for its wide set of integrations with labs and imaging centers that make ordering and patient referrals seamless. Some users have faced difficulties integrating the system with billing solutions, but overall individual practices find Practice Fusion’s capabilities promising.  

Users appreciate Office Ally for the wide range of free tools it offers, including ‘Practice Mate’ for practice management and Patient Ally for patient engagement. Its clearinghouse services streamline claims processing, making administrative tasks more efficient. While some users note that Office Ally’s tools could be connected more efficiently, the overall value and feature set make it a compelling choice for many practices.   

Selecting The Ideal Fit

Both Practice Fusion and Office Ally offer capable EHR solutions tailored for independent medical practices, but they cater to different priorities. Practice Fusion is particularly well-suited for practices that value user-friendly interfaces, powerful charting tools, and patient engagement options within a single system. 

Office Ally, on the other hand, offers exceptional value with free tools like practice management, patient engagement, and a clearinghouse solution. It covers all the basics effectively and supports a wide range of medical specialties. 

Ultimately, the best choice comes down to your practice’s unique needs. If seamless charting, advanced clinical functionality, and modern user experience are top priorities, Practice Fusion may be the better fit. If keeping costs down while maintaining access to core features and flexibility is more important, Office Ally offers a compelling alternative.