Penelope vs. Practice Fusion

Even if Penelope by Social Solutions is useful for case noting and any other file management, coordination and reports, it is not user-friendly. It does not let you delete your mistakes easily, it does not let you go back, and all the other issues mentioned, which are minor, added too much for a system that is supposed to support your work. However, some of the characteristics have been chosen by the system administrator and are not Penelope by Social Solutions's fault.

The best scenario is a small non-profit clinic who needs a great EMR but cannot afford one like EPIC. I might also recommend this to colleagues who are starting a small business because I think PF would be a good, easy, and more affordable to get up and running. I think this EMR makes less sense in the setting of large academic institutions who need lots of easily manipulable data and a huge amount of support.

Incentivized

• Provides time-saving features by automatically compiling data to an individual file from multiple areas.
• Allows staff to be updated on important information in real time.
• Provides a user-friendly experience and ease of access for staff with all levels of technical experience.

Incentivized

• Document storage- You can upload documents and attach them to specific patients. As well as flag documents that need to be signed, and assign them to specific doctors.
• Charting- Very detailed integration for charting.
• Reporting- We really enjoy the reports we can pull from within the software.

Incentivized

• The feature for the date of birth times out too quickly.
• You can't upload any files that may have a symbol such as a . in their title.
• The learning modules could be more concise making it faster to find the help you need.

Incentivized

• Have Physician Assistant as a provider status.
• Make the notes section of each patients account displays towards the top of page and not the bottom.

Incentivized

Penelope is saving us so much time and providing us with much-needed consistent regular data tracking and documentation. It has been a game-changer for our organization and we should have had it years ago. It has allowed us to have an efficient organized system to use daily in our non-profit agency.

Incentivized

Penelope has a lot of features and options which is one of the reasons why it is so great. With a lot of features also comes a lot of time to learn all of them. For someone who is part of the development and implementation process, it is a lot of learning to fully understand how everything works. This is good to know in advance when choosing a team to develop your database. The great thing about Penelope is that you can customize the features for each level of staff that will be using it so the staff only have access to the parts of Penelope that they need and will be using regularly. This makes the training process for staff a lot easier.

Incentivized

In my opinion and experience, they have a lack of customization so you have to constantly create hacks to make their system work for your practice.

Our support person with Penelope has been a dream to work with since day one. She is accommodating to our ever-changing schedule and has worked around us for training and Zoom meetings. She is always available via e-mail and is quick to respond to our many inquiries throughout the development and implementation process. Our Zoom meetings have been like talking to a long-time staff member. She explains things in a way that everyone can understand and will review with us as needed. She has been innovative in ways that Penelope can work for us and our needs and we have been so pleased with the support we have received.

Incentivized

We always get a return call within the time stated. There are many available topics on the forum and it is often easy to find the issue you are seeking more information on. When we have tried the live chat feature we have been satisfied with the timeliness and response.

Incentivized

Be sure to have a good team of staff that will be on board with the training and will dedicate time and energy to the process. You want to have people who are motivated and excited about the new program that you are investing in.

Incentivized

Penelope is more controlled, well designed, and easy to use. We like that Penelope has some structure to it while having a decent amount of opportunities to be configurable to our own specific needs. Our staff finds Penelope easy to navigate and enter their data into the system in a reliable and easy way. We valued that at the time of purchase, Penelope was a Canadian company that understood our specific needs as a Canadian nonprofit.

Incentivized

NextGen is hard to use as far as medical records. Practice Fusion is user friendly. There is a great knowledge base for questions asked. Practice Fusion takes all the guess work out of the day.

Incentivized

• Created the need to hire temps to correct data incorrectly entered based on a poor initial setup.
• Frustrated staff to the point many stopped entering services that were essential for receiving funding.
• Gave me an excellent understanding of what happens when core functions are lacking.

Incentivized

• PRO -- I know now what I need in an EMR/EHR
• CONS -- They have overcharged me and it has cost me money
• CONS-- They have disregarded my legal rights which makes me unsure of keeping confidential info in their systems and it will cost me money to switch
• CONS--They have cost me money with the time I've wasted to follow up on my own tickets that they refuse to follow up with