eClinicalWorks vs. Practice Fusion

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
eClinicalWorks
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
eClinicalWorks headquartered in Westborough offers their EHR / EMR solution, which can be upgraded to a full practice management solution at higher pricing tiers.N/A
Practice Fusion
Score 6.3 out of 10
N/A
N/AN/A
Pricing
eClinicalWorksPractice Fusion
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
eClinicalWorksPractice Fusion
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
eClinicalWorksPractice Fusion
Considered Both Products
eClinicalWorks
Chose eClinicalWorks
eClinicalWorks is easy to learn from a staff and provider standpoint. Tabs/links are clear and concise. Just by playing around with the system for a few hours, I was able to learn most of the important tabs/headings.
Practice Fusion

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
eClinicalWorksPractice Fusion
Billing and Claims Management
Comparison of Billing and Claims Management features of Product A and Product B
eClinicalWorks
5.1
18 Ratings
41% below category average
Practice Fusion
10.0
3 Ratings
26% above category average
Real-time eligibility verification5.117 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Claims management4.715 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Coding5.416 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Patient billing5.416 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Financial Reporting4.715 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Patient Scheduling
Comparison of Patient Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
eClinicalWorks
3.4
22 Ratings
81% below category average
Practice Fusion
8.3
6 Ratings
4% above category average
Rule-based scheduling4.221 Ratings8.14 Ratings
Automated appointment reminders4.417 Ratings9.05 Ratings
Automated patient check-in2.117 Ratings8.14 Ratings
Multi-location support1.720 Ratings7.23 Ratings
Calendar interface4.617 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Electronic Medical Records
Comparison of Electronic Medical Records features of Product A and Product B
eClinicalWorks
3.4
25 Ratings
72% below category average
Practice Fusion
8.1
6 Ratings
11% above category average
Charting / document management2.925 Ratings8.56 Ratings
Templates4.323 Ratings6.25 Ratings
Patient portal4.020 Ratings7.14 Ratings
Mobile/tablet support6.015 Ratings9.94 Ratings
Fax integration3.222 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Integration with other EMR and PM systems1.618 Ratings7.73 Ratings
Workflow automation1.623 Ratings9.93 Ratings
Speech recognition5.015 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Customization2.120 Ratings5.15 Ratings
E-prescribing3.123 Ratings7.25 Ratings
Medical Security and Privacy
Comparison of Medical Security and Privacy features of Product A and Product B
eClinicalWorks
3.8
23 Ratings
75% below category average
Practice Fusion
9.8
6 Ratings
15% above category average
HIPAA compliance8.022 Ratings9.56 Ratings
Role-based permission levels3.122 Ratings10.05 Ratings
Data backups and redundancy3.120 Ratings9.84 Ratings
Local mode / networking failsafe1.117 Ratings9.93 Ratings
Workflow and Scale
Comparison of Workflow and Scale features of Product A and Product B
eClinicalWorks
2.1
22 Ratings
115% below category average
Practice Fusion
10.0
6 Ratings
24% above category average
Task tracking2.119 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Specialty-specific workflows2.120 Ratings9.94 Ratings
Multi-office / multi-physician capabilities2.121 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Best Alternatives
eClinicalWorksPractice Fusion
Small Businesses
athenaClinicals
athenaClinicals
Score 8.6 out of 10
athenaClinicals
athenaClinicals
Score 8.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Qualifacts CareLogic EHR
Qualifacts CareLogic EHR
Score 9.9 out of 10
Qualifacts CareLogic EHR
Qualifacts CareLogic EHR
Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Epic
Epic
Score 8.3 out of 10
Epic
Epic
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
eClinicalWorksPractice Fusion
Likelihood to Recommend
2.0
(25 ratings)
7.1
(7 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
2.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
2.1
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
4.0
(1 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(3 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
In-Person Training
2.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
4.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
eClinicalWorksPractice Fusion
Likelihood to Recommend
eClinicalWorks
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.
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Practice Fusion
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.
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Pros
eClinicalWorks
  • 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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Practice Fusion
  • 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.
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Cons
eClinicalWorks
  • 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.
Read full review
Practice Fusion
  • 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.
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Likelihood to Renew
eClinicalWorks
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.
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Practice Fusion
No answers on this topic
Usability
eClinicalWorks
[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.
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Practice Fusion
No answers on this topic
Performance
eClinicalWorks
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).
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Practice Fusion
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
eClinicalWorks
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.
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Practice Fusion
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.
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In-Person Training
eClinicalWorks
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.
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Practice Fusion
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
eClinicalWorks
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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Practice Fusion
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
eClinicalWorks
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.
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Practice Fusion
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.
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Return on Investment
eClinicalWorks
  • 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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Practice Fusion
No answers on this topic
ScreenShots