athenaClinicals vs eClinicalWorks

athenaClinicals

Works well for family med and peds primary care. Would not be well suited to wound healing/hyperbaric medicine practice in current configuration as the specific documentation requirements of wound management and hyperbaric treatments don't mesh well with the layout and forms that I observed.

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Tom Pentzer

Medical student

FDM AcademyMedical Practice, 201-500 employees

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eClinicalWorks

For outpatient primary care clinics, eClinicalWorks (ECW) is above average. It can be a bit overwhelming for older physicians who are not computer savvy. Our younger providers have taken to it quickly and use the advanced features more. The specialists are able to utilize ECW for their purposes thanks to the versatility of templates. Some of the more technical tracking (like OB pregnancy monitoring) is too basic. Day to day patient management for primary care is fairly efficient.

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Medical Practice Company, 51-200 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

athenaClinicals

8.2

eClinicalWorks

7.9

Real-time eligibility verification

9.4

7.4

Claims management

8.4

7.9

Coding

9.2

8.1

Patient billing

8.4

7.6

Financial Reporting

5.9

8.4

athenaClinicals

8.0

eClinicalWorks

8.5

Rule-based scheduling

7.4

8.5

Automated appointment reminders

8.1

8.8

Automated patient check-in

8.0

7.7

Multi-location support

8.1

8.8

Calendar interface

8.1

9.0

athenaClinicals

8.3

eClinicalWorks

8.4

Charting / document management

8.5

8.4

Templates

8.4

8.6

Patient portal

9.8

8.9

Mobile/tablet support

7.9

7.7

Fax integration

9.3

8.9

Integration with other EMR and PM systems

6.5

8.5

Workflow automation

7.6

8.6

Speech recognition

9.0

7.8

Customization

6.5

8.1

E-prescribing

9.3

8.9

athenaClinicals

8.2

eClinicalWorks

9.0

HIPPA compliance

8.2

9.1

Role-based permission levels

9.3

9.1

Data backups and redundancy

8.1

8.6

Local mode / networking failsafe

7.5

9.1

athenaClinicals

8.4

eClinicalWorks

8.7

Task tracking

8.1

8.2

Specialty-specific workflows

8.1

8.6

Multi-office / multi-physician capabilities

9.2

9.3

Pros

athenaClinicals is a lightweight interface that is easy to navigate.
The problem list is easy to find, and adding documentation in the appropriate areas is intuitive.
The scheduling software included functions nicely for an office practice.

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Tom Pentzer

Medical student

FDM AcademyMedical Practice, 201-500 employees

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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.

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Medical Practice Company, 51-200 employees

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Cons

The problem list could use a sort by date function. Long-time patients tend to aggregate a massive problem list, most of which is comprised of old resolved issues.
The provider schedule view settings could use more filters. At times while in the clinic, I was unable to see patients assigned to my provider due to other scheduled visits.

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Tom Pentzer

Medical student

FDM AcademyMedical Practice, 201-500 employees

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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.

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Verified User

Project Manager in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 51-200 employees

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Usability

athenaClinicals8.2

Based on 1 answer

Overall the system is good. Actually, this was supposed to be the universal EMR when it came out during the Bush administration.

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Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology

Computer Software Company, 11-50 employees

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eClinicalWorks7.0

Based on 1 answer

I think it can be intimidating at first but once you begin navigating and learning the modules, it becomes less difficult to perform charting and operational processes.

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Verified User

Project Manager in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 51-200 employees

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Support

athenaClinicals9.0

Based on 1 answer

They are always there. Friendly and organized.

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Verified User

Manager in Other

Health, Wellness and Fitness Company, 11-50 employees

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eClinicalWorks9.0

Based on 1 answer

I have never had a problem getting MY problems resolved.

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Sue Tree

Out Patient Dietitian

Hunter CollegeHospital & Health Care, 501-1000 employees

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Implementation

No score

No answers yet

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eClinicalWorks4.0

Based on 1 answer

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.

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Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 10,001+ employees

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Alternatives Considered

athenahealth is more user friendly. There customer service center does not leave you without an answer. The reports can be built to each managers specific needs and the gathering of data from the EMR is fast. WOW!

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Verified User

Manager in Other

Health, Wellness and Fitness Company, 11-50 employees

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Ease of entering data and scheduling.

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Verified User

Employee in Other

Hospital & Health Care Company, 201-500 employees

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Return on Investment

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Ask the community to sound off

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.

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Kinekal Tasew

Director, Clinical Information System

Ascension Information Services (AIS)Hospital & Health Care, 1001-5000 employees

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Return on Investment

Can effectively care for patients
Able to multitask
Easy for other locations to share same info

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Verified User

Professional in Professional Services

Hospital & Health Care Company, 201-500 employees

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When we consulted for about a dozen facilities, about two third positively accepted eClinicalWorks as their solution.
Easy to implement from consulting stand point with fast go-live time.
Good support team from eClinicalWorks for Texas region.

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Verified User

Consultant in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 1-10 employees

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