Alora Home Health Software vs. eClinicalWorks

Our previous software, Cashe, stopped providing updates, prompting us to transition our clients to Alora Home Health Software. While we've encountered a few minor issues—mostly user errors—Alora Home Health Software's support has been exceptional. Their direct line connects immediately, with no hold times or voicemails, which was a refreshing change from the poor service we experienced with our old provider. [...] stands out for her extraordinary knowledge of the Alora Home Health Software platform. When I called seeking help with OASIS submissions to the iQIES system, she addressed it immediately that same day—no "we can set up a time later" delays. She pinpointed exactly what needed to be fixed and resolved the issues in real time. Using screen sharing during an in-person session, she walked us through each step with remarkable patience, going above and beyond to ensure everything was handled correctly. We're ecstatic to have found a true partner in Alora Home Health Software, one that supports fast, accurate accounting and truly cares about helping us serve our clients. Highly recommended!

eClinicalWorks should be used in most medical situations. The program generally speaking works the way it should keeping track of patient records and the like. They have recently added an inpatient module for ASCs. Seems to work pretty well for smaller practices that don't require a lot of additional features or integrations.

Incentivized

• One on one training even after the live training is completed, if needed.
• Provides real time information, rather than having to sync information over several times a day.
• It is very customizable for each agency.

• One of the strengths of ECW can also be a weakness depending on the user's perception. ECW has a lot of redundancies. There are multiple pathways to perform a task. It can be appealing to advanced computer users because of the versatility. I have found that it tends to confuse lesser experienced computer users.
• The creation of templates is very easy and any provider in our system can create one. It definitely makes documentation more efficient. By creating a set of templates for the clinic, we are able to standardize the orders/procedures along established guidelines.
• We have converted our scheduling to open access. ECW allows us to set the follow up time and the end of the visit and then an alert is created. Front office staff can run the report and schedule patients closer to the actual time. It has improved our no show/cancellation rates.

Incentivized

• It would be nice if there were some sort of alert when an incoming fax has arrived. Sort of like a ding or a bell notification at the top similar to an email, rather than having to go check every so often. We appreciate being very responsive.
• If we were able to customize every single section for each type of visit, that would be very helpful as we have noticed that we would like more details in some places and less in others.
• During initial training, going through each type of visit together from start to finish would be helpful. Addressing every single scenario that might happen, such as recerts or discharges. I think doing several of those from start to finish together would be beneficial as repetition is key.

• Meaningful Use Reports should be capturing data in real time and generated fairly quickly instead of the MAQ dashboard extraction process.
• Their support teams are not very helpful at certain topics such as the definition/logic of Meaningful Use calculations. These are generally difficult to determine but several cases in regards to Meaningful Use take several days before it gets addressed.
• Training videos would be helpful on their support website.

Incentivized

good support and pricing

Incentivized

If we had an option to easily switch to another EMR product we would. However, an EMR keeps you invested solidly in it - once you've started you're then going to be stuck with it. The investment into the data in the system are such that you have no real option to back out of what you are in and move into something else. Again, if we could, we would immediately move to another EMR. The ability to use it and be supported by the vendor has decreased nearly to the point of inability to use.

Incentivized

Alora Home Health Software’s structured documentation, OASIS prompts, and built-in alerts significantly reduce errors and help keep clinical records compliant with Medicare, Medicaid, and CHAP requirements. Nurses and therapists spend less time charting and tracking paperwork. Scheduling and orders management are more organized, reducing administrative workload. Electronic Visit Verification reduces missed visits and ensures accurate timekeeping.

Incentivized

[In my opinion] the features allowed by the system are not designed for providers. [I think] the systems are inefficient, and new features tend to be "bolt on" features either as products purchased and added from other providers or simply a module created and strapped onto the software. There doesn't seem to be much idea around making things easier for the provider, though they like to state that provider burnout is something they are working on.

Incentivized

I often cannot assign a proper diagnosis under the assessment section; and as mentioned, sometimes (about once a month) the dictation just freezes because "the request has timed out" (even restarting the iPhone/ laptop does not help).

excellent every time i call

Incentivized

You put in support cases through a support portal. [I believe] for no apparent reason, the company decided that their support cannot have access to actual patient records and as a result, it's required that they have to connect remotely to a computer system in our network, and log in as one of our users to do anything. This also entails that they are completely incapable of diagnosing problems and require significant amounts of user input and time to try and begin any sort of work on the problems. [In my opinion] this takes away from patient care and other concerns. Also, while you can put in as detailed a ticket as you want, when you are called, you have to go over the ticket again, as they don't seem to read or care what you put in, as it's more important to them to go over everything in painful detail. Often times you must explain to the tech how the process works. In the past month, we were upgraded overnight with zero warning, which caused issues the following day as we had to update every single computer in our network (over 300) and it requires administrative privileges so couldn't be done by a user. This also doesn't update any information in the programs list, so there's no way to tell whether the update happened or not.

Incentivized

Paid for training, did not help. They trained prior to go-live, but it was so long ahead that users weren't able to function well when it actually happened, they seemed unable to provide adequate support. [In my experience] further support is typically very boilerplate, and is thus not useful, and has additional cost.

Incentivized

overall im very satisfied with implementation and training.

Incentivized

It's very important to limit your schedule during the weeks after go live but it is equally important to have a resource that is the lead at the practice that ensures that milestones are met leading up to the go-live date. Someone must be the point person at the practice otherwise milestones will be missed and the implementation will run into problems.

Incentivized

So I talked with other business owners and asked what software companies were they using to help keep track of things in their companies before I made a choice. Alora Home Health Software was the name I heard the most, and when I asked why, they always had really great things to say, so I reached out, and I can honestly say I'm really glad I listened to them because Alora Home Health Software has really helped make my dream come true.

I was attracted by the final note format of ECW. I said then and still say that most EMR's clinical notes are terrible to try to read and follow in orderly fashion by comparison...BUT the devil is in the data entry and that is where "you live" as a clinician. Incredibly frustrating software because of inflexibility and restrictions of multi level data fields that can only be opened one at a time (i.e. no "toggling" between windows... ooen read and close...then reopen other data entry window....then close and repeat if you need to refer back to original window of data. This applies throughout the software and is due to its reliance on SQL architecture from what I have been told). Kills productivity.

• Most billing companies charge 3-5% of your return to utilize their services. Alora has saved us that expense soley by the ease of their product. The built in ability to send claims straight to clearinghouse saves us a large percentage that would normally have to go to a 3rd party billing agency. Allows us to keep our money in house.
• Alora provides a QA center and an area where all documents can pulled quickly that makes it super simple for us as an agency to keep up with our ability to do Clinical Record Reviews which is important for us to stay accredited and keep up with the top standard we strive for.

• I will just share one area that our organization saw the ROI in a very short time period. That is the elimination of a dictation service for most of our specialty group doctors when we introducec Dragon Medical. This functionality brought a tangible benefit and a significant ROI in a short time period.

Incentivized