Modernizing Medicine's EMA™ EHR System

Overall excellent software. It might cost more than some of the others but I believe it is worth it and should allow you to see more patients, therefore bring more money in, in the end. I came from working in a derm office using this platform and am now in Plastics and am desperately trying to convert my new practice to EMA Plastics.

Pros

They clearly listen to providers and are constantly making changes to improve their system. It comes with built in counseling, patient education, diagnosis codes, it codes all your office visits/procedures for you, keeps track of global periods, allows before and after image comparison (which is huge for stubborn acne teens), it is user friendly, works across desktops, ipads, iphones, the through the use of protocols, it can make charting go extremely fast!

Cons

There is always room for improvement but overall I can't really say anything that stands out for negatives. It would be nice if some of the standardized features like patient history, patient portal had some customizable features or the ability to rearrange topics for personal workflow, but it's nothing major.

Pros

Signed up initially with your EMR. Their EMR works well.

Cons

Do not sign up for their billing service. My collections are way down since we switch. Every time I call they don't seem to care

The company does not respond to real problems with the EHR. I have reported billing issues where incorrect modifiers are used for billing with no resolution in OVER A YEAR! The software does not run properly on the most recent version of Firefox which is a browser required to be used by the company. When using this combination repeated delays occur when entering data with endless spinning wheels popping up. I reported the problem after spending months and $$ with my contracted IT people trying to figure out the issue (including swapping out my computer). A month later the issue is still "open" and unresolved.

Pros

It is more user friendly when working than other EHRs I have seen.

Cons

Multiple problems including incorrect coding of modifiers, and incompatibility with more recent versions of Firefox which is the internet platform needed to run the program. Customer service is completely unresponsive when you can get a hold of them and drop issues without resolution. Requires having a full time office person available to try and deal with the company.

Advice to Others

When it works it is probably better than most EHRs out there, but if you have problems you get no support.

Our office has been using EMA for about three years and the staff has no complaints. EMA is easy to navigate and helps our office run smoothly every day. One of the staff's favorite features is the Results Log which easily allows us to keep track of our high volume of patients and contact them easily with their pathology results. In addition, with each update, the software improves.

This product diminishes clinical productivity and contributes zero to our patients outcomes.
This product makes it very difficult to communicate with other doctors.
This product costs a fortune.

Advice to Others

Do not buy this EMR

I am very happy with this product. it is very functional and adaptable to our practice needs.

It was a little bit tricky to learn, just for the first couple of days. This EMR really does a great job of tracking, and trending. A lot of things we used to have to track manually are now done by this system.

Pros

This system tracks and trends.

Cons

Would like to see inventory management offered.

Advice to Others

Give this EMR a try. We have tried two others prior to this one. We are doing great so far!

I do really like this EMR--I think they have done a great job making it as seamless as possible. There are a few features that are lacking, and I wish that the training had been more hands on and comprehensive.

Pros

Ease of use
ipad functionality

Cons

audit trails are just so-so
training was a joke

Advice to Others

Pay extra to have trainers come and watch your current workflow prior to the workshop to see how you do things, otherwise during the training you are only learning their way and it's hard to get it communicated to work for your practice

Likes Best

Company is very responsive when I want to add a procedure. The will build it if on ask for it.
The product is specialty specific. The documents makes sense, look like a note I would dictate instead of a bunch of meaningless data. It codes my visits and procedures flawlessly. It is iPad based and I can finish my notes at home or document a patient call at home easily.

Likes Least

Although fairly intuitive it does have a learning curve. I feel this is true with any EMR.

Recommendations

Let them do an online demo for you. The strengths of the product are very quickly evident.

Likes Best

The software is well-designed across all platforms (ipad or web). Highly intuitive and highly customizable. The software learns the provider's most commonly used diagnosis codes and plans and puts them at the top for easy selection. Extremely accurate billing and coding conversion that integrates well with our Practice management system.

Likes Least

Nothing really, but would like to see more functionality on the scheduler.

Recommendations

The software is designed to help the providers record patient encounters with ease and accuracy in the amount of time that does not interfere with patient care. Despite the simplicity of the design, this software is an extremely powerful tool and does an amazing job at capturing every aspect of patient care.

Likes Best

Great dermatology software. Customer support is very quick and responsive

Likes Least

Prescription refills are cumbersome to navigate. It is frustrating that they do not show in the patients chart if you ok a RF from the refill tab. Also there is no way to order tests without creating an office visit. It is often that our nursing staff is ordering tests for pts over the phone and we have no way of doing this in EMA, but must "old school" it and write out lab orders by hand.

Recommendations

Highly recommend having a staff member in your clinic when you go live with this for the first time. We had a very helpful person who was here for the first two days of going live and his help was key in not only a smooth transition from paper to EMA, but he had so many short cuts and helpful charting hints for us that I don't think we would have learned on our own.

Likes Best

The software was easy to implement and fairly easy to learn. The ability to learn in the "sandbox" before going live with real patients was extremely helpful. As with all new programs, there is a learning curve, but based on comments from physicians in our area regarding their EMR programs, Modernizing Medicine was the easiest to learn and the least problematic. The support you receive is excellent. There is always someone to talk to about any problems or questions you may have.

Likes Least

The main problem we have is we kept our practice management system, which required Modernizing Medicine to create a bridge that allows the demographics to transfer from one program to the other. It only takes a minute; however, when the clinic is very busy, that minute seems more like 5. As far as the vendor, I can't think of any negative.

Recommendations

Do your research to make sure the EMR fits your needs and has the ability to grow and advance for the future demands of medicine. Go to demonstrations and use the program of your top two choices. Take the information of a typical patient from your clinic to practice using the software of both systems. I think you will find that Modernizing Medicine is very easy to use and the data is easy to read. There isn't a perfect product, and we don't live in a perfect world. I think you will find Modernizing Medicine's team is always working to improve the program and prepare for the future.

Likes Best

EMA is easy to start-up and get rolling with. It doesn't require a lot of additional hardware purchasing. The initial training is thorough and flexible based on the client's schedule. EMA's support is prompt, and they have a user-friendly website which is continually updated and contains videos and tips to help in the learning process, including tips for meaningful use and PQRS along with videos regarding software updates.

Likes Least

In the year we have used EMA, there has been minor issues, which can be expected with any software program, but nothing major enough to list.

Recommendations

Do your homework and ask lots of questions. Converting to an EMR product can be stressful, and the more knowledgeable you are before you start will reward you later!

Likes Best

They give great support and it makes our job so much easier.

Likes Least

I just love this product and can't find a negative. Once we got used to it, everything is great.

Recommendations

Check it out and give yourself time to learn it, you won't regret it.

Likes Best

Support is very friendly and always willing to hear our concerns and suggestions.

Likes Least

The product is fairly new, so it's somewhat underdeveloped, but it has great potential, which has kept us with EMA through this initial stage.

Recommendations

Very user-friendly. It's iPad based, which makes it very easy to utilize in our practice as well as making the documentation process concise.

Likes Best

I love the ease of the product and the user-friendly program. It has a wonderful aspect of meeting all requirements for Meaningful Use and charting capabilities.

Likes Least

I really don't have any dislikes. From start to finish and continuing on, it has been very smooth.

Recommendations

I always recommend that you find a practice using it and spend time with them and show you first hand how easy this product is.

Likes Best

It's intuitive and has a user-friendly tablet interface; charting time reduced compared to previous vendor; it has automatic superbill creation; it generates glasses and contact lens RXs.

Likes Least

It does not have its own integrated practice management system.

Recommendations

There is a learning curve to adapting to the system, but the tutorials and training sessions are helpful.

Likes Best

Overall, it's an excellent EMR system which is intuitive and time-saving. It's relatively easy and quick to implement and train staff to use this EMR system. Great customer service and help with meaningful use and PQRS.

Likes Least

I'm very happy with the software/vendor. I have not had any negative experiences at this time.

Recommendations

I would highly recommend EMA to other physicians looking to implement an EMR system.

Likes Best

Its easy to use and is very intuitive.

Likes Least

It took some time to integrate it with practice management software.

Recommendations

Go try it and test it. Secondly, make sure that the company will give you adequate support and training. This is extremely important as you will have issues using and implementing it.

Likes Best

It is simple and customer service is great.

Likes Least

When we first starting using this product, the company did have a lot of updates, but in the last year that has been resolved. The updates are not as frequent.

Recommendations

Everything takes time. Be patient. It is not the computer making the mistakes, it is the user (for most circumstances).