Hippo Manager

Pros

Overall, myself, my receptionist and assistant/technicians are very pleased with using Hippo. We use it all day most days and having document storage capacity and accessibility is key!! It just seems very easy to navigate and access easily from multiple locations. The customer support has been amazing!! There are a few changes that I think would be helpful and the capability to set up certain types of reminders and service codes that would be really useable for us, which I will include below.

Cons

I am so happy with it overall, that is hard to say but the things I would like to see change, are the number of decimal points/zeros on an invoice after each item. See example below.
Seen By: Serena Turner
Chart Note: Phone 2019-09-11 08:55:00
Patient Item Qty. Total
Gypsy Cefpodoxime 200 mg tablets 20.00000 $47.00
Phone Consultation 1.00000 $20.00
Euthanasia Housecall Large Patient 1.00000 $200.00
Paw Print made by Rolling Acres 1.00000 $25.00
Rolling Acres Private Cremation 50-150# 1.00000 $245.00

I just don't think having anything in the hippo system to the 0.0000 is practical, and it looks strange on invoices as well as pharmacy labels. This same system/issue impacts typing in the quantity on prescriptions for 100 count or more, you have to erase zeros to be able to type the number prescribed.

Another thing I think could be addressed is the number of reminders - the top 5 - that show up on a vaccine certificate. If a 3 year vaccine schedule is being used, often the vaccines won't be on that top 5 reminder list so you have to either send multiple certificates or I delete reminders like the Annual Wellness Exam in order to have the 3 year DA2PP date show up, for example.

Pros

I like being able to set up Hippo manager to meet my practice needs. I can customize templates that are specific to my type of practice.

Cons

There is a patient portal for clients to access, but the veterinarian does not have control of what goes into that portal unless you leave items unsigned. The portal also does not have a separate medications tab for clients so they have to search through every visit note to find what their RX is. The software does not automatically notify clients if there has been an update in their portal so they know to look at it.
Hippo manager is accessible on mobile devices, but is not very usable at least on an iPhone. Can access charts, but scrolling through to read them is very difficult. I use the iPhone the most to upload photos and videos.

Pros

It is generally intuitive to use and has an easy learning curve, the reporting is straight forward, customer support is friendly and responsive. I like that there are constant improvements being made, and think I will be happy in the long run with this program. Integration with Idexx has been helpful for us too.

Cons

There are several functions that don't work as intended, and many glitches that sometimes slow down using the software:
The search bar does not allow you to look for patients with special characters or spaces in their names. Some examples would be "representative" which won't pop up with the space in it, or we treat some animals from local shelters which are often identified by impound numbers "File #18-597" would be an example.
The print all button on the records does not actually print all of the records- it leaves out the CC and the doctor's signature- both are important to include when sending records elsewhere (the tab to print an individual record works fine).
There should be user options like "receptionist, assistant, or technician" for the records-, or everyone should have an individual ID for recording chart notes- it is cumbersome that I have to go back and sign charts related to phone calls that receptionists take or medication refills dispensed by technicians- it just makes more paperwork for the doctor.

There are also some glitchy problems sometimes with double clicking appointments to bring up the patient record- the "resource" spot doesn' t always autofill so it freezes up the computer. Sometimes we have had appointments disappear from the schedule, and occasionally we have been filling medications for one patient, but the charges were going into a different patient's chart that remains open in the background (we have screen shot of this if you wish to see)

Pros

Ability to quickly scan each entry for the one you want.
Patient page gives excellent Quick overview of the record, although recent update resulted in poor scaling that previously existed so you have to scroll both left-right and up-down to see all widgets.
Not just focused on receipts and finances. The medical record component is robust.

Cons

1) Bugs are slow to be addressed and resolved. ( Can’t enter multiple vaccines without saving and then reloading the patient page for instance. Still waiting months for fix)
2) Customization of certain fields (diagnoses lists, relationship field) not possible.
3) Vaccine history list printout unwieldy.
4) Entering dates from the calendar function requires multiple clicks if it is a historical date.

Pros

Accessibility - I love that people can access it from their phone, tablet, home, etc.
Customer Support - The fact that we do not have to pay extra for customer support is a huge plus. In addition, Customer Support is knowledgeable and prompt.
Details - The Veterinarian's can put more details in their SOAPs than what they could with our former program.

Cons

Having to learn new ways to do what we did in our former software. I have found that in Hippo we are able to do everything we did in our former software, it is just done a little differently.