Our practice runs smoothly with Cornerstone. Everything is at our fingertips and so easy to use.

I could go on and on. It makes my life so much easier as the office manager. As I said in the review from making and confirming appointments, to controlling inventory, managing the Petly Wellness Plans, compliance of clients using medications to include heartworm and flea preventions, to vaccines, to spay and neuters. Even using the callback lists daily to check on our patients, e have built such trust in our clients that we truly care about our patients. It is extremely easy to close our the end of day with the software and print reports to see how we are doing as a practice. I have used Cornerstone since 2006 and have experienced it grow and evolve in to the premium management software that it is today. It is always improving and the IDEXX team listens to what the practice owners need and want. They make it happen! Thank you.

Pros

Integration of Petly Wellness Plans in the patient's CS file. This is awesome being able to see what plan they have and what items they have used and have remaining. Inventory control keeps us on track. It lets us know when to order items and even where we order them from. We can prevent overstocking and running out of things. Automatic reminders and appointment confirmations are truly a timesaver. Processing payments through Cornerstone for credit cards and even excessing CareCredit are so quick that it minimizes our client's wait time at check out. And now being able to see vaccine history of each patient all under one tab is awesome. Printing vaccine certificates couldn't be easier. The whiteboard is great so everyone knows at a glance from any terminal why a pet is in the hospital and what is being done for them. Cornerstone has certainly changed over the years!

Cons

We haven't had much success using the boarding module to fit our needs and the way we reserve boarding space for our pets, because you can't schedule 2 pets for the same cage on the same day if one is leaving in the morning and the other is coming in the afternoon. We need to play with it more I guess.

Prior Avimark User now using Cornerstone

Cornerstone is a powerful program that does many things almost everything needed for a veterinary practice. We were prior Avimark user for about 15 years since the start of windows version. Avimark is the most user friendly program I have ever used but it is limited as of a year or so ago to support true paperless use and our database out grew their ability to handle. They also had a whiteboard that was not practical or user friendly so we switched to Cornerstone. This program does handle large databases and does support paperless practice and works very well with integration of all their lab equipment, radiology and telemedicine. Because it is robust it is more complicated to master and there are so many things the program does it is difficult even for trainers and support staff to understand how do all the things paperless fully integrated practices need. It is not as user friendly and many things that are needed by paperless practices are not doable in the program. A simple need is in diagnosis listing - there is no way to describe anything about the diagnosis for example - Diagnosis of Limping - there is no way to go in and add a descriptor like left front or right rear - only Limping. Or if you diagnosed a mass - but no way of describing the location so you are left with reading through the exam to find out where the lump is. There are not many tabs on the patient records to sort the medical history to make finding inputs faster. But it has a Fantastic white board. The whiteboard that is fairly easy to use and does everything we needed. This was huge for our hospital and is badly needed in a paperless larger hospital. Unfortunately few practices use PM software to the maximum like we do, the problems we find or deficiencies that we find in the software from all these companies we have a small voice. But overall I think for a busy practice that wants a paperless practice and a excellent whiteboard feature and full integration of results with lab equipment and radiology results Cornerstone is the best.

Pros

Whiteboard and paperless capabilities and lab integration

Cons

Stupid little things like cannot add descriptors to Diagnosis, lack of tabs to sort medical history

The best practice management for business oriented practices out there

I am a power user of Cornerstone and am currently running it in five practices. Without a doubt, it was a great choice for us when we changed practice management software several years ago. The ability to integrate our lab and digital imaging is outstanding-no missed charges, all information immediately available in the correct patient chart, improved work flow and efficiency, and the ability for doctors to choose the format that they prefer for viewing results. I also really appreciate the customer support-I am the general manager as well as the network administrator, and being able to have any staff member call in to get a problem solved rather than waiting for me is very helpful. Support is respectful and very helpful to our team. We are also making great use of the learning center and the more advanced Cornerstone training programs. The reports and the Performance Tracker feature are extremely useful in managing the business side of the practice-you can really decide what level of information you want and go find it. The reports also provide a great deal of data about our clients and patients which helps us provide the care and services they want and value. The integration of Pet Health Network Pro for client communication is great-we really like the reporting features and communication options there as well. For me, the ability to have all of this technology easily integrated with one point of contact and one point of accountability has also been much more efficient than trying to deal with multiple providers as I have in the past. The only real negative with Cornerstone is all those features can also make it feel very complicated. It does require a commitment to training and to learning about the program to make it work well in your practice-but when you think of that database as the goodwill value of your practice, taking the time to manage it effectively is absolutely crucial for the long term success of your business. Some folks may find they don't need the integration or firepower, and Cornerstone may not be the best option for them as it is more expensive than some of the other options. However, I don't think it can be beat for the integration and reporting capabilities.

Pros

The strongest features are the ability to integrate lab, digital imaging, and client communication within one program. The report features are very good as well. Tech support has been great, and long hours of operation are very helpful as we operate extended hours.

Cons

Set up can be complicated and it requires a commitment to ongoing education about the program. Staff training is very important.

Flexible software that is easy to learn and use.

As a paperless practice utilizing many of the Idexx platforms and services, we are power users of Cornerstone. We have two practices within 15 miles of each other and we need to be able to access client records from either, or remotely. It's been a good solution for our practice. I've used several practice management software systems and while none of them are perfect for everyone, Idexx has the ability to invest in it's technology and continue to make improvements. It really does offer robust options and flexibility for many practices to use the features that are a good fit for them.

Pros

It is a robust software package with good integration with other Idexx offerings. The integration increases the value of each service offering. They provide continued improvements on the user interface and enhanced functionality. The learning center provides fantastic training resources for new hires and those needing a refresher.

Cons

New enhancements seem to take priority over improvement to known deficiencies, such as the functionality of the multi-location single database systems. I would like more options to capture data for reporting and analytics. You can gather most information, but need a good grasp of excel to manipulate and combine it.

Cornerstone

Overall, my experience is positive. We were able to go paperless with Cornerstone, and I was one of the veterinarians that helped facilitate that. My current practice had paper charts when I started with them, and only used Cornerstone for billing and surgical notes, but I had worked at other practices with computerized medical notes, and understood the benefits.

Pros

I like how it was easy to learn to use. I'm not especially computer savvy, but I didn't have a problem learning the essentials I needed for daily use. I especially like the medical notes, and if I remember correctly, our practice was able to customize them. Internal communication within the system with messages that are time-stamped and linked to the medical notes are helpful.

Cons

In the specialized exams (dermatology and ophthalmology specifically), I've had problems with the screen freezing during medical note input, after I try to save any drawings made on the diagrams themselves.

I've lost my entire medical note (everything input prior to trying to save the markings on the medical diagrams). We've contacted the company about it, but last I knew, we were unable to correct the problem.

I've leaned to work around it by typing in my entire medical note and SAVING it first. Then filling out the medical diagram. When I go to save the diagram, it always freezes the screen, and I have to exit out and do the diagram again, but at least I don't lose my entire medical note prior if I save it all first.

Cornerstone

We bought Cornerstone several years ago, at that time we were a busy 4 doctor practice. Installation was relatively seamless with our antiquated Better Choice system. It does take some getting used to and it is so powerful it has many features, but many ways to accomplish the same thing. You do need to have a solid understanding of windows but I find our staff catches on easily. We are now a busy 8 Veterinarian practice (mixed animal) and we continue to use many of the features Cornerstone has available. Cornerstone also grows with us.

Pros

There are many ways to accomplish the same thing. It is quiet intuitive after you have received the basic training. I have found service support to be timely and effective. It is so versatile I can't imagine it wouldn't be a good fit for any size, growing practice.

It integrates very, very well with all of our equipment.

Cons

It is a beast! It can accomplish so many things it can be intimidating at first but with patience and the willingness to call the support team for help and if you take the time to watch the snippets online. It is an awesome program.

Cornerstone Reivew/Survey

From a support staff point of view, very good. From a practice management point of view, it can be difficult, especially if you join a practice years into owning the software and it was unorganized. Clean up can be difficult.

Pros

I like the appointment book as it is easy to read and organize. I like the ability to email records, notes, and forms to clients. I like the help desk as they are easy to get a hold of and are very knowledgeable. I think it is easy to look up pets and clients and deal with financial transactions. PHNP is great too.

Cons

You need to make a new client file in order to make an appointment, although I know there are a few work around for this. You cannot inactivate a mass amount of clients at one time. You can email a mass amount of clients at one time. I wish you could eliminate service and inventory items instead of just inactivating them. I wish there was a better way to organize service and inventory item, so we can pull sales and revenue figure easier. It is hard to create these reports. I hate that once you have 4 files open on the patient clipboard, it make you close a few before you can continue working. I don't like that you cannot put cost of good on service items (labwork, etc.)

Cornerstone keeps improving how we practice.

Pros

Check-in process has the ability to print any documents needed for the appointment, so staff don't have to find handouts. In the exam rooms we can use the PVL to efficiently bill and write on medical notes during the appointment. The CVT's can then easily print anything needed to send home with the client because of the ease of creating in the client correspondence area. Behind the scenes cornerstone is capturing reminders opportunities that we previous designated so staff do not have to think about it. At check out we transfer from the PVL and add any OTC items to the invoices and check out the client. Love the vaccine tab that now tells us when important annual items were given. With multiple staff working with hospitalized pets the WB gives us information quickly when treatments were and what is come due.

Cons

I wish the reports had less clicks to build. Some click seem redundant. Wish we could arrange the check in sheet to what we feel is most important to show up on the 1st page. Patient alerts should NOT be printed on the last page.

The Good and the Interesting

Cornerstone is definitely more robust than Intravet that we tried first when we went paperless, and the ability to view most all of the client and patient info within one screen is very handy.

Pros

Cornerstone has the ability to not only keep all of your patient charts, orderly and mostly at your fingerprints on one screen, along with client information and notes. The program also has several add-on features or programs that you can integrate for lab work, wellness plans and there is a new feature coming out in the next update as well.

Cons

All of the Cornerstone features don't seem to "work" all of the time. When there are updates or patches to fix certain aspects of the program it seems to disrupt or "break" other features or items that worked just fine. We will experience glitches within some accounts but not others, the add-ons tend to slow the program down and tech support is not allows that "supportive" or helpful if it is outside items typically on their help menu. There are many shortcuts to the programs use too, the users just aren't made aware of them.

Powerful Software

Pros

Cornerstone is packed full of features. There is so much you can do with an cornerstone to help with every aspect of your practices. We have also switched to Pet Health Network Pro and it is nice to see it right within Cornerstone. We also use IDEXX in-house and mail-out labs so having that all connected is great. When we switched to Cornerstone we also switched to being paper-lite. This made the transition easier (or rather ripping two bandaids off at once). Customer service is amazing! If you are having issues doing something they help you right away and are always friendly.

Cons

Because there is so much you can do within cornerstone, it is sometimes a struggle to figure out how to do something. In there is always multiple ways of going about doing the same thing. This has led to some issues at first with staff all doing things slightly different. The biggest downfall for me is that you have to close out each day, month, and year. I wish you could just search for a date range or time period instead of having reports based off of closed periods. This makes things difficult if someone forgets to close out a period, or if you have the computer manually close the period and there is a glitch (lets be honest, computers do not always operate the way they should). As a manager if I find a mistake in a deposit, I can’t easily change it from the previous day.