DrChrono vs Meditech Expanse
Last Updated:Our analysts compared DrChrono vs Meditech Expanse based on data from our 400+ point analysis of EHR Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.
Product Basics
DrChrono is a cloud-based EHR and medical billing solution that replaces the chaos of paper charts and separate systems with a single, easy-to-use platform for managing all aspects of a medical practice.
For doctors, this means:
- Effortless Access to Patient Information: Imagine having a patient's medical history — allergies, medications, past visits — at your fingertips.
- Simplified Appointments and Prescriptions: Schedule appointments and send prescriptions electronically in just a few clicks.
For patients, it means:
- Taking Control of Their Health: Book appointments, communicate with their doctor and access their own records through the patient portal.
- Staying on Track: Receive automated reminders for appointments and medication refills.
And for the practice as a whole, the system helps:
- Get Paid Faster: Automate billing and insurance claims to reduce errors and speed up payments.
- Improve Financial Health: Track outstanding payments and identify potential billing issues.
- Negotiate Better Rates: Gain insights to negotiate more effectively with insurance companies.
We tested the system to see how it works in real-world scenarios. Here’s what we think: while mastering the billing module may require some effort and billing data import has limitations, the system’s intuitive interface and accessibility from any device make it a user-friendly option.
A free trial and flexible pricing plans allow you to explore its potential and determine the right fit for your practice.
Product Assistance
Product Insights
- Avoid Claim Denials: In our analysis, the product excelled with a perfect score of 100 for claims management capabilities, outshining competitors like athenahealth (89). It helps you:
- Fill out CMS-1500 forms.
- Create and send many claims at once.
- Look through past claims by date or type.
- Check all the claim details — like patient info and procedure codes — before sending it to payers.
- Match payments to bills.
- Automate Billing, Insurance Checks and Patient Workflow Management: The product achieved a perfect score of 100 for these capabilities:
- Capturing records of medical services and charges.
- Keeping a detailed list of charges for exams, procedures and supplies.
- Helping doctors create and update patient visit records.
- Checking if a patient’s insurance is valid before their appointment.
- Automatically checking what medical benefits a patient has, like maternity or cosmetic surgery coverage.
- Letting patients access health info and advice through the patient portal.
- Allowing specialists to see patients referred by other doctors and send reports back.
- Helping doctors refer patients to other specialists.
- Reduce Medical Coding Errors: In our analysis, the platform scored 98 for assigning the right billing codes like ICD, CPT, HCPCS, NDC and taxonomy codes.
- Make Data-Driven Decisions: The product scored 88 for features that help you generate aging, billing transactions, revenue, write-off and adjustment reports. You can also access pre-built reports like payment trends and insurance analysis to save time creating them from scratch.
- Access Data Remotely: The product scored 94 for mobile capabilities, more than its competitors like Oracle Ambulatory EHR (79) and athenahealth (71). It truly stands out for:
- Tracking claims from submission to payment directly from a phone.
- Sending messages easily to billers, patients and staff.
- Offering seamless access to the system on iPhone and Android devices with native apps.
- Delivering timely alerts for payment reminders, appointments and more through push notifications.
- Adapting to any device with a responsive web portal for a smooth user experience.
- Helping practitioners dictate medical notes directly into the app for easy note-taking.
- Interoperable Care Coordination: Leverage embedded EHR-to-EHR links and health information exchanges to share and access comprehensive patient data across specialties, providers and care settings. Eliminate care gaps, enable better collaboration and patient continuity with complete interoperability.
- Optimize Practice Schedules: Use a single scheduling module to detect conflicts across the practice network and reduce appointment cancellations and patient waiting times.
- Improve Patient Outcomes: Identify and manage health risks, care gaps, overdue checkups. Visualize trends across admitted patients and entire patient populations. Track vital chronic patient data through wearables, get notified of alarming values and remind patients of overdue visits for timely interventions. Develop targeted programs to improve patient outcomes.
- Maximize Revenue: Minimize claim denials and maximize reimbursements, manage copays, collections and follow-ups and increase revenue at the point of care. Drill down into financial data and accounts receivable for a bird’s eye view of practice finances.
- Enhance Patient Experience: Improve the patient experience by letting them access clinical resources, communicate with providers and actively participate in their care with a dedicated patient portal and engagement tools. Reduce patient waiting times or offer convenient virtual care visits. Track patient satisfaction through robust reporting.
- Improve Accuracy: Reduce errors associated with data entry and scanning. Extensive patient records and clinical decision support also improve clinical accuracy.
- Make Informed Decisions: Measure practice progress and make informed decisions using data-driven insights on various aspects and metrics, including population health patterns, revenue cycle and meaningful use measures.
- Compliance: Remain compliant with MIPS or advanced payment models with interoperability, quality measures including population health, analytics and surveillance and required modules including telehealth, patient portal, immunization and patient registries and more.
- Mobility: Access patient data, get notified, operate basic tasks and coordinate care remotely with Android and iOS apps. Also allows monitoring of vital signs and specimen collection at the point of care.
- Ease Clinical Burdens: Provides various modules and templates to aid physicians, nurses and other healthcare employees in their daily operations and reduce their cognitive loads.
- EHR: Provide better care with features like free draw for visual explanations, custom vitals tracking and access to immunization registries
- Custom Templates: Tailor forms with specific fields, drop-down menus, checkboxes and even add your practice's logo. This ensures your documentation is consistent, efficient and specialized for your needs (e.g., cardiology forms with specific heart diagrams).
- Electronic Prescriptions: Send prescriptions electronically to pharmacies directly from the patient chart. Access the drug's formulary tier, prior authorization requirements and alternative medications if the prescribed drug isn’t covered. Access patient PDMP data directly within the EHR to identify potential abuse, misuse or doctor shopping.
- Free Draw: Upload images (x-rays, scans, photos) or use pre-loaded anatomical diagrams within the patient chart and draw directly on them.
- Custom Vitals: Create vitals specific to your needs including things like blood glucose and oxygen saturation levels. Capture data in various formats: text, numbers or predefined options using dropdown lists. Access the flowsheet to visualize trends in custom vitals over time.
- Prior Authorizations: Initiate the ePA request directly from the prescribing workflow. Automatically populate the prior authorization request form with relevant patient information (demographics, insurance details, medication prescribed) pulled from the patient's chart.
- Lab Orders: Integrate with national, regional and specialty labs like Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp. Create predefined lab panels for common tests or specific conditions. For example, you could create a "lipid panel" or a "prenatal panel" with a single click. View lab results within the patient's chart, organized by date, test type and ordering provider.
- Medical Speech-to-Text: Use voice to input clinical notes, patient histories and other information. See your spoken words appear as text in real time within the EHR to review and edit the transcription as you go.
- Immunization Registries: Automatically send your patients' vaccination details to the state IIS, ensuring that records are up-to-date and complete. Retrieve immunization records from the IIS, even if your patient received vaccinations elsewhere to avoid unnecessary duplicate vaccinations and identify potential gaps in their immunization schedule.
- Practice Management: Save time and reduce errors with appointment management tools, including appointment profiles, insurance eligibility checks, online scheduling and automated reminders.
- Appointment Profiles: Instead of manually entering the same details (length, reason, etc.) for every appointment of the same type, you create a profile once and it auto-fills the details (duration, reason for visit, exam room and billing codes).
- Eligibility Checks: Verify your patients’ insurance eligibility in real time — check what services are covered under the plan (e.g., office visits, labs, specialists) and any limitations or exclusions.
- Online Scheduling: Set specific days and times when each provider is available for appointments. Offer different appointment types online (e.g., new patient, follow-up, consultation) with varying durations. Add buffer time between appointments to prevent scheduling conflicts and allow for patient check-in/check-out.
- Patient Reminders: Send automated appointment reminders via email, text or SMS. Configure reminders to be sent at various intervals before the appointment like — a few days before, the day before or a few hours before.
- Medical Billing: Improve your revenue cycle management with tools like billing profiles, medical coding and automated claims submission.
- Billing Profiles: Combine frequently used CPT, HCPCS, custom codes and ICD-10 codes into a single profile. Attach common modifiers to the codes within the profile (e.g., modifier 25 for a significant, separately identifiable E/M service).
- Medical Coding: Easily search and select the appropriate codes within the EHR using keywords, code numbers or descriptions. Perform basic code checking to identify potential errors such as invalid codes or missing modifiers.
- Good Faith Estimates: Generate good faith estimates to help patients understand costs upfront and avoid surprise bills.
- Claims Submission: Submit electronic claims to insurance companies within the system. Track claim statuses in real time. Scrub claims for errors like missing information or formatting mistakes before submitting them to payers to avoid denials and claim rejections.
- Denial Resolution: Generate denial analysis reports to identify denial patterns. Edit and submit corrected claims directly within the system. If you disagree with a denial, generate appeal letters and track their statuses.
- Patient Statements: Generate statements for individual patients or groups of patients based on various criteria (e.g., date range, insurance status, outstanding balance).
- BI Tools: Get a visual summary of key metrics and performance indicators. Generate customizable reports to:
- Track revenue, expenses and profitability
- Analyze claim submission, acceptance, denial and reimbursement rates.
- Track patient demographics, appointment history and billing information.
- Analyze appointment scheduling and no-show rates.
- Mobile Capabilities: Schedule appointments, send patient statements, bill insurance, document patient encounters, access lab results and more from iOS devices like iPad, iPhone and Mac.
- Telehealth: Patients can join the telehealth visit from their computer, tablet or smartphone using the link provided in their email reminder. Providers can share their screens with patients to review medical records, lab results, X-rays or educational materials.
- Interoperable Patient Charting: Access comprehensive patient data that follows patients across specialties and care settings. Perform faster patient charting with evidence-based templates, speech recognition and efficiency dashboards. Add notes and checklists and filter data across specialties.
- Clinical Decision Support: Provides relevant formats and information for providers to aid in clinical documentation and decision-making. Take effective quality measures using its clinical rules database and guidance toolkits.
- E-prescribing: Review insurance coverage, medication management plans and histories to electronically prescribe medications and authorize refills — even for controlled substances.
- Virtual Clinical Assistant: Give verbal commands to the virtual assistant to navigate the interface and aid in various clinical processes, like pulling up patient charts, reviewing medications, displaying readings and more.
- Patient Surveillance: Leverage extensive condition and health maintenance registries and analytics to predict at-risk patients, care gaps and population patterns. Take preventative measures using its centralized care coordination and clinical monitoring tools.
- Claims Management: Capture accurate charges, verify insurance eligibility, pre-screen claims for conflicts and errors and receive authorization and missing data notifications to avoid claim denials. Track claims, follow up on denied claims, analyze denial trends and success rates to improve acceptance rates.
- Billing: Get an overview of the practice revenue cycle and financial health with comprehensive reports. Track and collect copays and outstanding patient balances. Provide accurate comprehensive billing statements.
- Scheduling: Handle patient appointments, meetings and conferences through a single calendar. Track patients throughout care settings with multiple patient lists and wait times from a single interface.
- Patient Portal: Provide clients with a single patient portal to self-schedule appointments, access records and health resources, track vital signs, manage immunizations, request prescription refills, fill up forms, pay bills and self check-in.
- Telehealth and Remote Care: Offer convenient telehealth visits that fit into existing practice schedules. Remotely track patient vital signs.
- Data Visualization: Drag and drop to visualize real-time clinical, operational and financial data insights on customizable dashboards. Drill down for granular details.
Product Ranking
#11
among all
EHR Software
#114
among all
EHR Software
Analyst Rating Summary
Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data
Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data
User Sentiment Summary
529 reviews
DrChrono has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 80% when considering 529 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.
Awards
SelectHub research analysts have evaluated DrChrono and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Platform Capabilities.
Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews
So, I got the chance to get a free trial access to DrChrono, and here are the key highlights: The platform stands out for its intuitive design, extensive features and customization capabilities. The software is accessible on any device with internet connectivity. Data import from other EHR systems is supported but with certain limitations. It offers four pricing plans and a free trial is available for potential users.It's a cloud-based system, which means you can access it from anywhere — your laptop, tablet, even your phone! And it covers everything from electronic health records and patient scheduling to billing and telehealth.One of the things that really impressed us was how customizable it was. You can create your own templates for notes, forms and even entire workflows. This means you can really tailor it to fit your specific needs and preferences, which can save a ton of time.And speaking of saving time, they've put a lot of thought into their billing features. They have tools to help you code things correctly, submit claims electronically and even track your payments. Anything that helps you get paid faster and with less hassle is a win, right?However, learning to navigate the billing and insurance modules could take time. It’s a bit confusing to understand how the billing workflow works and how to set one up. Also, you can’t import billing data from your old EHR system.If you're looking for a comprehensive, user-friendly system that can be customized to your practice, we'd definitely recommend taking a closer look.They offer four different pricing plans, so you can find one that fits your budget, and they have a free trial so you can test it out and see if it's a good fit for you. It's always good to try before you buy, right?We’ve discussed more about the features in the See It in Action section. Do check it out to know how the system works in different scenarios.
Is Meditech Expanse really so expansive that it pushes the boundaries of what an EHR can be? While Meditech Expanse has garnered a devoted following, a deeper dive into user experiences over the past year reveals a mixed bag, particularly when compared to its rivals. Users consistently applaud Meditech Expanse for its user-friendly interface, often drawing comparisons to navigating a streamlined website. This ease of use, coupled with its reputation for robust customer service, makes it particularly appealing to healthcare facilities transitioning from older systems or seeking a less daunting technological leap. However, a recurring gripe amongst users is the lack of transparency in pricing. This opacity surrounding costs, often involving hidden fees for data migration and customization, leaves a bitter aftertaste, especially for smaller practices working with tight budgets. Furthermore, while Expanse boasts interoperability, some users find its customization options, particularly in specialized fields like mental health, to be somewhat lacking compared to competitors like Epic, which offers more tailored solutions. In essence, Meditech Expanse is like a reliable but aging car – it gets you where you need to go, but it may lack the bells and whistles of newer models. Its strengths lie in its user-friendliness, dependable customer support, and robust interoperability features, making it a solid choice for hospitals and practices prioritizing ease of implementation and use. However, its opaque pricing structure and limitations in advanced features might give larger institutions or those with niche requirements pause.
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