DrChrono Reviews

Pros

Now I have all patient data in my small ipad. DrChrono is an efficient and easy program to use. NAd they have very good customer support. Just imagine eliminating all your paper charts!!

Cons

I have to pay for it. LOL. I have no negative comments to make about this great program.

Pros

Easy to implement, great support, ease of use

Cons

Some of the features don't really function as well as advertised

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to DrChrono

Pros

Web based and ipad/phone app seemed easy to access

Cons

Oh where to begin on this? Endless runaround from start to finish - just scheduling a call with someone to help set up things took a month. Then they say I needed to go through enrollment, which makes sense but this was never discussed a month prior. Then there were some issues on the backend with enrollment process which no one got back to me on. Essentially paid for 3 months of "service" with zero to show for it, complete waste of time for myself and the rest of my group. I can't believe this product is as highly rated as it is, the customer service is beyond bad. EMR is just OK, a little clunky to put in notes, it appeared to be a glorified spreadsheet on top of a data backend.

Pros

I absolutely love charting, creating shortcuts for patient education, sending prescriptions and reviewing my patient's medical history.

Cons

Medical billing has to go. We are not making any money at all using this system because the billers just are not understanding the health insurance companies pay out their medical claims. And so until the billers are located here in the US with prior experience in collecting claims from our insurance companies - Dr. Chrono will not be sustainable.

Pros

I love how very self explanatory Dr. Chrono is. I find it very easy to navigate from reporting to scheduling. The support staff is very responsive and attentive for any and all questions. Any time I needed assistance I received responses promptly. Every staff member that I spoke with always took the time to show me step by step instructions and were always available for follow up questions down the road.

Cons

The biggest problem that my clinic has run into with this software is that we have three different doctors in our practice that each have there own ways of taking payments, but because we only have one license for Dr. Chrono is hard to know which doctor the patient owes money too considering they see all three. We have worked around the problem, but it's very time consuming.
Also the reporting was very minimal but has gotten better through the years

Pros

The software is user friendly and definitely laid out and user friendly like an apple user would expect. The final document is polished around the edges like a mac user would expect. Clean, crisp and user friendly.

Cons

If you do have a problem or a question that requires customer support there is no phone number to call and get immediate help. You have to submit a ticket and wait for them to get back to you. The turn around is usually 24 hours, and if you are not available when they call they leave a number to call them back on. The number then becomes inactive after about 1 month, So you cant keep the number and call in later with a new question.

Pros

Customization of templates and scheduling calendar.

Cons

Many system crashes over the last year. We decided to switch to a different EHR system that was more user friendly, better online booking system and our account manager will NOT get back to us after WEEKS of sending emails and phone calls to get notes imported to new system and to cancel the account.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing DrChrono

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to DrChrono

Pros

It is easy to make the forms exactly what you need for your practice. They do offer some tutorials up front, but they honestly were not very helpful. Fortunately if you have the slightest knowledge of programs, you can format things yourself very easily.

Cons

Lot's of down time. It goes slow and you can't access your records. The biggest CON for me though is the inability to get issues resolved. I have been working on getting an issue resolved with writing scripts for labs for over a year and half now and still not resolved. There is no place to call. So you can't actually talk to someone. Their hours to help you are in the middle of clinic hours so essentially you will never get help.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing DrChrono

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to DrChrono

Pros

Nice to use and easy to navigate. The differences between this softwear and others are easily noted

Cons

Scheduling difficulties can make it hard sometimes

Pros

I like the set of features they have - compliant to data safeguarding standards, managing historical customer medical history, effective scheduling and management of appointments

Cons

The cost is high, integration of several tools is complex, the sync is missing. Complex to use overall

Pros

1. HIPPA compliant.
2. When their system is not crashing or updating, notation is good for the most part.
3. I like being able to schedule patient’s from my phone app.

Cons

1. Customer and tech support are 0 help! Basically tell you all the things a person with 100 IQ would have tried and when that doesn’t work they tell you ‘Well, tough turds, thanks for your money. BYE!’
2. The frequent system crashes, updates that don’t allow you to use the notation platform for several hours at a time. Several times I have been writing a very long and detailed chart note and will click ‘View Chart Note’ and get an error code and nothing was saved.
3. The navigation is very slow so I don’t know whether they are running updates or the server is just slow.

Pros

DrChrono is very powerful software that aspires to provide integrated solutions to many or all needs of a medical office.
The customer support is absolutely the best part of DrChrono.
It seemed clear to me that DrChrono was invested in listening to customer feedback and making updates to better serve their clients.
Each page provides a great deal of information.
It's worth investing the time to learn how to make the most of the software.

Cons

There was one day when significant updates had been made to the software without any advance notice to the users. Left work one evening, started getting messages about the changes from struggling staff the next morning. That said, this happened only once in two years, and was not typical of the software experience.

Training period recommended. This is not necessarily pick-up-and-go software for most people. The learning curve is relatively high, solutions aren't always intuitive, windows err on providing almost too much information so it can be a challenge to know where to focus for the data you need in the moment if you're not familiar with the software.

It may be useful to note that emails sent through Dr.Chrono to patients are not HIPAA-compliant.

While it's technically possible to manage inventory in DrChrono, there are better services out there.

Pros

It is nearly a one stop shop bedside tool for a busy outpatient surgical center. Consent and Data entry is pretty easy. Creating our own templates for nearly the entire process was essential, and we were able to do that with very little help. It's fairly intuitive. There are definitely downsides to creating your own templates (see below). The ability to draw notes and fax notes is excellent, and improvements in fax documentation and signing is indicative of how they try to constantly improve. The different tiers of service offers a slightly clunky fit, though overall it is pretty decent given the fact you mainly have to choose the feature they lay out at each tier of service. Also, there are on line instructions with video for many features, but they often have outdated videos and it's hard to distinguish. They should label each version with the VERSION of Dr. Chrono to which they are doing the training in order to avoid wasting time. The set up is easy. Help for the initial set up is good. They offer good training.

Cons

SERVICE. I can't stress strongly enough how variable the service quality is. There is no way to contact them other than email. You cannot call them. They call back at times when either I'm busy, or after hours. It's as though you can't get anyone or worse since they are at arms length. It makes it VERY difficult to deal with a complex problem. I am more that willing to pay extra for better service with a "phone line" or "hot line" to call. This has been rejected. I don't know why. I find it a poor way to run service for an EHR company.
RELIABILITY: This is a real problem. There are so many breakdowns, inability to use the notes, slow service, etc. We increased our internet speed at work to 15G and it didn't really help other than increase speed when it is working. I do recommend a higher speed as the data is fairly intensive which is a plus for DrChrono - they can accomplish a lot. But the breakdowns have forced us to use paper charting on many occasions. A very recent example is that we could not view a complete not from the iPADS. We could from the computer, but that is NOT how we function, nor should we be expected to function that way. It was resolved in a few hours. The very next day you could not view notes from EITHER the iPAD or the computer. Other issues were consent forms simply dropping off the consent list on the iPAD or being put in reverse order. After many emails, they finally admitted there was a problem. Also, the back and forth creates poor communication when you get a request to take a "screen shot" of a problem that occurred a few days ago. Even then, you are lucky to get an answer other than "we are looking at this".
SALES: Pretty darn good. Just wish they added a service package with a phone line/hot line.

Pros

To me, it is very straightforward and easy to use and navigate. If you are computer savvy, you could be up and running during the same week that you purchase this EHR. I like how the iPhone app DOES have a schedule for the day (despite what a previous review said) and it is super-easy to take pictures of insurance cards and pictures of the patient or their problems. The fact that it is cloud based is nice because I can operate it in the 35 different nursing homes where I practice. I have used 3 other EHRS before (OfficeMate, My Vision Express, and Crystal PM - for optometry) and they all had less capabilities than DrChrono. The ease of e-prescribing and e-faxing is also wonderful, and the claim filing is much easier than with the other EHRs.

Cons

There are some glitches in the software. For example, billing for a self-pay item is tedious and time consuming and if you accidentally enter the wrong amount as what the patient paid and have to change it later, the computer can't handle the change and gets everything mixed up and says the patient has a credit when the patient does not have a credit. Sometimes you just have to delete everything and start all over if you come across a billing glitch like that.

Pros

- Lots of pre-programmed macros
- built in dictation works well
- Electronic prescribing works well on app based version (but zip code needed to find a pharmacy using the web based version)

Cons

- Web based version very different from app based version
- illogical provider work flow - steps needed to navigate through the system are unintuitive
- very small fields in which to enter patient data (med hx, fam hx, soc hx, etc.)
- Program did not initially store any patient data that was entered - i.e., patient information such as medical hx, fam hx, etc., was not being saved. Our IT people -
had to work with drchrono to set up a 'button' to turn on to save this information
- unable to compare previous labs side by side with new results
- Results do not automatically enter into a patient's chart; thus unable to communicate with patients directly from screen that has either lab or imaging results -
have to enter into the patient chart to initiate communication, then return back to your message or task center to continue processing other results

Pros

Digitally receiving e faxes
Fairly easy e-refills
Price point is competative
Custom appointment profiles are nice

Cons

1) There is no tech support number. You can only email tech support. Tech support has taken weeks to get back to us. Most of our concerns have gone unaddressed. People say they will look into an issue and then we will not hear back. EPCS has been down all day. I called the sales number. No one answers. The sales voicemail was full! I emailed every contact I had. No response. I emailed tech support. They wrote that EPCS is fixed and working. EPCS is still not working. I have no ability to talk to a human. No one can give me an ETA, let alone fix the issue. For this reason alone I would never choose this EMR again.
2) You cannot write a note in a patient's chart without creating an appointment.
3) The SOAPNOTE set up is just strange.
4) Our outgoing e-faxes don't work properly and no one has gotten back to us about this issue.
5) There are no lab, radiology, pathology tabs. You have to assign tags manually in each chart.
6) Electronic lab results and uploaded lab results cannot go to the same folder.
7) As soon as we gave our credit card we have not heard from our sales rep and no one seems to care if our account is functional or not.

Pros

Patient reminder system and appointment scheduling.

Cons

Many promises were made prior to going on board and I was highly excited about getting up and going. There was a lot of difficulty reaching technical support for immediate and not so immediate issues. My staff had to spend many man hours to get the proper paper work for billing of Medicare once we found out that they were dragging their feet. We could no longer wait on them getting everything in order. The issue with Medicare still has not been completely resolved to date and Medicare is one of our major carriers. Had we not intervene the present progress would not have been made. There were numerous emails and telephone calls placed only to get the usual response that they were sorry for the inconvenience and would solve the issues. You can believe that there were no problems charging the credit card on a monthly basis. The initial monthly contract agreement increased substantially and the service never came up to par. I am totally disappointment in the company and will not be renewing my contract. Ample time was given to vent my frustrations on the phone and at the end of the conversation I would be told the usual which is that they would resolve the issues. I can honestly say that that Drchrono has caused us a lot of frustration, valuable time and waste of my money. Like others have mentioned Buyer Beware.

Pros

Drchrono is so extraordinarily customizable that it can be modified for any specialty, even one as subspecialized as mine. The practice management module makes billing so easy that I can do all the billing tasks as a solo provider by myself. The API integrates into several third party apps that extend the capability of the system beyond the base system. The iPad first interface is perfect for a tech forward practice. And the price/feature ratio is the best on the market, in my opinion.

Cons

Occasional outages, worsening performance in the live claims feed for billing, and schedule performance issues recently.

Alternatives Considered

Pros

•ease of use (intuitive user interface)
•all physician and nurse documentation can be done from iPad
•built-in speech-recognition
•easy to customize templates
•large library of templates
•continually updated "how-to" videos on their YouTube channel as new features are rolled out
•friendly, patient trainers and tech support staff
•extensive Mayo Clinic patient education resources
•optional comprehensive medical billing services

Cons

•The name. DrChrono is just embarrassing to say, and I can't make myself write it in all lowercase.
•100% cloud-based (which generally is WAY BETTER than self-hosting the data, but if your ISP goes down, you are essentially back in the stone-age)
•clinical decision support features are inconspicuous and difficult to navigate
•knowledge-base articles are sometimes out of date
•Mayo Clinic patient education resources are not well-indexed

Pros

Easy view on computer for individual schedules
Lets you view other's schedules as well
Can make multiple note templates
Have had many fewer "glitches" in recent past than when I first started using it
iPad interface is decent

Cons

I am an OT, and it is not the best system to use for therapy documentation in my mind
Can't delete note templates
Tasks often stop working
When things get "fixed" they often stop working again
Phone interface is challenging to use

Pros

Functions decently as a data entry EHR. I used this on a mac and iPad and I could document what I needed to after a lot of customization. Being html based, this is really portable and functions well on multiple devices fluidly.

Cons

Retrieving data is hard. For example, a patient calls, and the receptionist needs to look up the patient's history. This takes several types and clicks, and seems so buried into the system that it is an afterthought. When I think of a patient's history, I need it a click away. What I did to them and why they came to me needs to be immediately available. The slow-down due to drchrono is really significant, and led me to terminate my contract after one year of use, despite the pain in the @$$ of migrating systems. Navigating through a patient chart on the iPad is really hard. Navigating to the patient's history to retrieve past notes is even harder than on the computer. The inefficiency in this is really significant. The price is very high for what you get when compared to free options and even cheaper options.

Pros

Customizable templates. Ease to use. Multiple functions and features to use to create a template that cuts down on documentation time while still providing all necessary aspects for solid documentation. Incorporates needs rendering or needs supervising for documentation sign-off. Auto-save feature is awesome!

Cons

Can’t think of any negative comments about the software. However the IT Support is not the most reliable or quick if and when any issues arise.

Pros

User friendly (few clicks)
Customization (especially notes)

Cons

- Eligibility verification wasn't working for the whole year, I had to use a stand-alone software.
- Signing notes was almost impossible, it always gave me an error for ~10 min until it decides to let me sign and lock it, a lot of time wasted trying to sign notes.
- Messaging patients through the portal was very difficult to follow, if you decide to reply you won't be able to see any message thread so you never know what was discussed prior.
- Poor customer service, they never fix anything. They have a list of excuses.