Issue 10 - August 2003

Software on your buying agenda?
Try before you buy
By Dion Nugent

Whether you need to upgrade your chiropractic office software or you’re opening a brand new practice, selecting the right billing and practice management software can be overwhelming. There are many options, features and cost ranges.

To ensure that you select a software package appropriate for your practice, keep it simple. Start by making a requirements list, which should include everything that you expect from your software.

Some things to consider in this process include: the ability to trial the software, ease of use, training, total cost of ownership (TCO), features, technical support and the database behind the software application. The guidelines below have been put together to help you evaluate which software product is best suited for your practice.

• Take it for a test drive. Once you identify products that match your needs list, ask each company to send you a trial version and literature package. Rule out companies that don’t have a trial version. Generally companies that do not offer trial versions have limited engineering resources, which can sometimes be a sign of financial instability.

Pay close attention to the quality of the literature that you receive from each company. The ideal literature package will be thorough and answer most of the questions you may have. Remember — this is the vendor’s chance to prove to you that it wants your business.

• Evaluation, training and technical support. When evaluating a software program, view each of the demos and make notes about what you like, dislike and any questions you may have.

Once you have completed the demos, open the trial version. How does it look? Does it appear simple or complex? Call the company and ask a sales or support representative to walk you through the program, keeping your requirements list and questions in front of you.

Whenever you acquire new software, you (and your staff) have a learning curve. Look for a company that offers training and determine if their service is adequate for your needs. Some companies offer training via a CD-Rom that comes with the software package. Others may offer alternative options via phone or in person.

In addition to initial training, consider technical-support options. Determine the different levels of technical support provided by the companies you are evaluating and their billing procedures. Some may offer an up-front fee for a year’s worth of service, others may charge by the hour as needed.

Also consider whether technical support is available only during regular business hours or 24/7. Many software providers offer different levels of support, allowing you to customize your support package depending on your needs and budget.

• Price and hidden costs. You will find that programs most commonly range from $99 to $5,000. If you are a new doctor, it might be wise to buy only what you need to get started. Ask if it’s possible to buy a basic program to get off the ground, and upgrade a couple of years later with a credit for your already-paid investment as your practice grows.

Each company uses a different pricing strategy for technical support. Some companies sell their product at a low price but tack on a hefty fee for support costs.

Other companies sell high-end products and build the cost of the technical support into the price.

Look for a product that is fairly priced, and includes toll-free support with the sale. Also, ask if they offer a new doctor discount.  

• Features. Different software packages offer different types and levels of features. Evaluate your practices’ current and future needs, staff size and patient load to determine the feature set that you will need.

For example, a small, single-chiropractor office may only require basic features, such as storing patient financial histories and printing insurance forms.

For a small office looking to expand, you may want extra features such as marketing tools that allow you to reach out to prospective patients, or features that monitor practice statistics through reports and allow office staff to track trend lines and to increase awareness and focus.

For the multiple-doctor office or for the clinic looking for the most comprehensive billing- and practice-management software, a full range of features are available. These include automating the clinic’s scheduling needs through customizable views and setting up intervals and notes programs designed to keep note-writing easily transferable, fast and accurate.

Clinics or practices experiencing a high volume of patients may require features that organize tasks and assign them to various office personnel, to ensure proper payment from insurance companies by tracking and storing claim information and track outstanding claims by printing aging reports and account balances.

And, of course, with all levels of software packages and feature sets, you will want to make sure the one you choose is fully HIPAA compliant.

• The database behind the software package. You may not realize it, but the database powering your practice management software can make a difference in performance, on-going maintenance and total cost of ownership. During your evaluation process, find out what database the software program runs on and ask the software company about expected costs associated with database maintenance.

Ask what type of ongoing maintenance the database will require and how much the maintenance will cost. Typically, the cost of maintenance will be included in the overall cost of the software program. However, ask either the software company or the database vendor to provide costs and compare.

Look for a database that requires little or no administration — “lights-out” administration — that will decrease overall up-front or ongoing costs and will also remove the worry of ongoing maintenance.

Remember that the most expensive software packages are not always the best. Nor are the least expensive packages the worst. Select the software package that best fits your practice’s needs at the best value.

Dion Nugent is the president of Forté Systems LLC, a leading provider of business automation software to the healthcare industry, and can be reached at 800-456-2622, or sales@fortesystemsinc.com.

Forté Systems has partnered with Pervasive Software, a leading global data-management company powering the success of application developers worldwide. Their website is www.fortesystemsinc.com.