CareCloud Central vs athenaCollector

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Our analysts compared CareCloud Central vs athenaCollector based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Medical Practice Management Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

CareCloud Central Software Tool
athenaCollector Software Tool

Product Basics

CareCloud Central is used by health organizations of all sizes to track, manage and optimize financial as well as administrative processes by streamlining operations. It helps manage workflows and optimize the completion of daily time-consuming tasks to save time and money. This leads to an increase in daily traffic, greater care and a better patient experience.
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athenaCollector, developed by athenahealth, Inc., is a comprehensive software solution designed for medical practice management. It is particularly well-suited for healthcare providers seeking to streamline their billing processes, enhance revenue cycle management, and improve overall practice efficiency. One of the key benefits of athenaCollector is its ability to reduce administrative burdens, allowing medical professionals to focus more on patient care rather than paperwork. The software is known for its robust features, including claim processing, appointment scheduling, and reporting analytics, which collectively contribute to its popularity among users. When compared to similar products in the market, athenaCollector stands out for its user-friendly interface and the high level of customer support provided by athenahealth. Pricing for athenaCollector typically varies based on the size of the practice and the specific services required, with payment options designed to accommodate different budgetary needs. This flexibility in pricing, coupled with its comprehensive suite of features, makes athenaCollector a competitive choice for medical practice management.

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$300/Provider, Monthly
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$0/Transaction, 7% Flat Rate
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Product Assistance

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Product Insights

  • Streamline Workflow: Schedule appointments, chart and document with ease, and save time as CareCloud Central handles daily tasks. 
  • Increase Efficiency and Revenue: Provide greater quality of treatment with better insights into patient care for accurate diagnosis and treatment. Streamlined operations help increase daily visits, leading to higher profits. 
  • Get Up and Running Fast: Start using the platform quickly and help users get comfortable with the product via a smooth implementation process facilitated by CareCloud’s professional services support team. Continuous support is also available after implementation. 
  • Reduce Denials and Errors: Avoid handwriting and legibility mistakes or coding errors that result in reimbursement denials or delays. Report electronically and have accurate patient information for better care. 
  • Data Accessibility: Save patient data such as demographics, financial information and more simultaneously, making it accessible by physicians whenever needed. 
  • Optimize Decision Making: Analytics for financial and administrative performance can be used to help physicians make the best decisions. 
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  • Get Paid More, Faster: AthenaCollector helps your organization get paid more quickly by scrubbing claims of any errors before submission. Denied claims can be resubmitted automatically to save time and prevent missing out on reimbursements. 
  • Improve Collections With Less Work: AthenaCollector helps to ensure the full amount of money owed is paid in a timely manner, boasting a 95% first-pass acceptance rate for insurance claims. By automating the billing and payment processes, staff members are required to do less work overall. 
  • Optimize Staff Performance: With more time available to your physicians through the automation of tasks, your healthcare professionals can get back to focusing on what’s most important — the patient. Analytics help provide insights and recognize patterns, making accurate diagnosis and treatment more likely. 
  • Compare Your Performance With Your Peers: By connecting with other AthenaHealth providers, you can compare the performance of your facility with others using the network. This can help lead to greater treatment results. Data analytics are made transparent and much easier to understand by displaying information in graphs, charts and more. 
  • Speed Up Patient Visits: Rather than having to check a patient’s insurance eligibility before each appointment, updates can be made online by the patient themselves. Additionally, a patient can walk out of the building once their appointment is finished with their payment taken out automatically. This gets rid of the time spent settling up once an appointment is finished. Athena’s advanced scheduling tool also helps to keep patient wait times down. 
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  • Comprehensive Scheduling: Manage scheduling with a multi-view calendar and drag-and-drop online appointment scheduling. Patients can easily book and confirm appointments. Automated patient reminders reduce no-shows. 
  • Insurance Verification: Access a patient’s insurance details, such as deductibles, copays and coinsurance, to prevent denials and get paid quicker. 
  • Patient Management: View and update patient demographics, insurance details and account histories in real time. Physicians get a clear picture of all patients in one place. 
  • Financial Workflow:
    •  Automate financial tasks such as billing, claim submission and remittance. 
    •  Simplify coding and charge entries. 
    •  Scrub claims any errors that may result in denials or delayed payments. 
    •  Track payments with a central remittance repository. 
  • Command Center: Keep track of practice performance with a practice scorecard. See trending metrics and causes over time with instant snapshots of operational and financial data. 
  • Health Analytics: Provides insightful analytics on financial, administrative and clinical performance to support informed decisions. View staff productivity levels to ensure everyone is meeting Meaningful Use standards. 
  • Real-Time Reporting: Customizable charts and graphs display data in easy-to-understand templates, and financial and clinical reports can be accessed conveniently. 
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  • Performance Reporting: AthenaCollector allows your health professionals to view detailed, real-time reports with the click of a button. Benchmarks are established based on comparisons with other AthenaHealth customers to help drive better results. 
  • Revenue Cycle Dashboard: Physicians can easily access revenue cycle tasks as well as patient information from a singular, centralized dashboard. The intuitive dashboard lets users quickly bounce around from one task to another without getting lost. 
  • Appointment Scheduling: This allows your organization to optimize the number of appointments, increasing daily traffic. The online scheduling tool helps to eliminate double-scheduling or scheduling conflicts while connecting your physicians with patients. Automatic reminders are also sent out to help prevent no-shows. 
  • Claims Management: AthenaCollector is able to automatically verify a patient’s insurance eligibility prior to their appointment. Its automatically updated rules engine helps catch errors within claims before submitting them, leading to fewer denials and higher first-time acceptance rates. 
  • Patient Check-In: Patients are able to check themselves in online before showing up for their appointments. Any necessary information can be updated prior to the time of an appointment, saving themselves the time spent filling out charts, providing insurance and more. 
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Product Ranking

#11

among all
Medical Practice Management Software

#115

among all
Medical Practice Management Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

CareCloud Central
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Billing And Claims Management Clinical Management Collaboration Dashboard And Reporting Medical Coding Mobile Capabilities Patient Payments Management Patient Schedule Management 80 76 94 88 100 91 65 100 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Good User Sentiment 104 reviews
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73%
of users recommend this product

CareCloud Central has a 'good' User Satisfaction Rating of 73% when considering 104 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

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3.4 (11)
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3.7 (91)
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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Streamlined Patient Scheduling: CareCloud Central receives consistent praise for its intuitive appointment scheduling system. Users appreciate the ability to easily view physician schedules, manage appointments, and send automated reminders, which reduces no-shows and keeps things running smoothly.
Efficient Billing and Claims Management: The platform simplifies the billing process by automating tasks such as claims scrubbing and submission. This leads to faster reimbursements and fewer denied claims, ultimately improving a practice's financial health.
Comprehensive Reporting and Analytics: CareCloud Central offers robust reporting tools that provide valuable insights into practice performance. Users can track key metrics, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to optimize operations and profitability.
Enhanced Patient Engagement: The platform facilitates better communication with patients through features like a patient portal and secure messaging. This empowers patients to actively participate in their care and fosters stronger relationships with providers.
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Streamlined Claim Scrubbing: Users appreciate the ability to submit cleaner claims, reducing denials and rework, which in turn improves revenue cycle efficiency.
Integrated Patient Engagement Tools: Features like appointment reminders and patient portals enhance patient communication and satisfaction, leading to better patient retention and loyalty.
Comprehensive Reporting: Robust reporting capabilities provide insights into practice performance, allowing for data-driven decision-making and practice optimization.
Cloud-Based Accessibility: The cloud-based nature of athenaCollector enables access from anywhere with an internet connection, offering flexibility and convenience for healthcare providers.
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Steep Learning Curve: Many users report that CareCloud Central is not intuitive and requires extensive training to navigate effectively. The interface can feel cluttered and overwhelming, leading to frustration and decreased efficiency for new users.
Billing Challenges: Several practices have experienced issues with claim denials and delays in payment processing. Users cite difficulties with claim scrubbing and a lack of transparency in the billing process, making it hard to identify and resolve issues promptly.
Customer Support Concerns: Getting timely and effective assistance from CareCloud's customer support team has been a recurring pain point for users. Long wait times and a perceived lack of expertise among support staff can exacerbate existing problems and hinder issue resolution.
Limited Customization: Practices with unique workflows or specialized needs may find CareCloud Central's customization options to be insufficient. The software's rigidity can force practices to adapt their processes to the software, rather than the other way around.
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Customer Support: Users have reported challenges in reaching customer support promptly and receiving timely resolutions to their inquiries.
Software Issues: Some users have encountered technical problems and glitches within the software, leading to disruptions in workflow and potential data inaccuracies.
System Updates: The frequency of system updates has been a concern for some users, as they can sometimes lead to temporary disruptions or require additional training to adapt to new features or changes in functionality.
Cost: The pricing structure and associated costs of athenaCollector have been mentioned as a drawback by some users, particularly for smaller practices or those with budget constraints.
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CareCloud Central has garnered a mixed bag of user reviews over the past year. Many users appreciate its clean and modern interface, finding it intuitive and easy to navigate compared to more cluttered competitors like athenahealth. The platform's scheduling tools are also frequently praised for their flexibility and ease of use, allowing for efficient appointment management and reducing scheduling errors. However, several users have expressed frustration with the system's reporting capabilities, finding them to be somewhat limited and lacking in customization options compared to more robust solutions like AdvancedMD. Additionally, while CareCloud Central offers a mobile app, some users find its functionality to be restricted compared to the full desktop version, hindering on-the-go productivity. One of CareCloud Central's key strengths lies in its integrated approach, combining practice management, electronic health records (EHR), and patient engagement tools into a single platform. This streamlines workflows and reduces the need for multiple software solutions, which can be a significant advantage for smaller practices seeking an all-in-one solution. However, this integration can also be a double-edged sword, as some users find that certain features, such as billing and claims management, are not as comprehensive or customizable as standalone solutions like Kareo. Ultimately, CareCloud Central appears to be best suited for small to medium-sized practices that prioritize ease of use, a modern interface, and integrated functionality over extensive reporting capabilities and highly customizable features.

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Stepping into the bustling world of medical practice management software, athenaCollector emerges as a prominent contender, but how does it truly fare in the eyes of its users? Let's delve into the experiences shared by those who have navigated the intricacies of this platform. athenaCollector garners praise for its comprehensive suite of features, encompassing electronic health records (EHRs), patient scheduling, billing, and insurance claims processing. Users appreciate the platform's ability to streamline administrative tasks, allowing healthcare providers to dedicate more time to patient care. The user-friendly interface and customization options further contribute to its appeal. However, a recurring concern among users is the cost associated with athenaCollector. Some find the pricing structure to be relatively high compared to alternative solutions. Additionally, while the platform offers customer support, there have been instances where users have expressed dissatisfaction with the responsiveness or effectiveness of the assistance provided. When compared to competitors like SimplePractice, Waystar, and Kareo, athenaCollector distinguishes itself through its robust feature set and integration capabilities. Its ability to handle complex billing processes and manage large volumes of patient data makes it particularly well-suited for larger medical practices or those with specialized needs. Smaller practices or solo practitioners may find more cost-effective options with comparable features among the alternatives available. Ultimately, the suitability of athenaCollector hinges on the specific requirements and priorities of each medical practice. For those seeking a comprehensive and integrated solution with a wide range of features, athenaCollector proves to be a valuable asset, despite its higher price point. However, smaller practices or those with budget constraints may find better value in alternative platforms that offer a more streamlined and affordable approach.

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