Practice Fusion

PF provides a very intuitive interface that is very easy to learn, which is especially important in our clinic because as an academic teaching environment we are constantly onboarding new volunteers who need to use this software for the first time and need to learn to do so quickly.

PF provides low prices for free or non-profit clinics, which is the main reason why we use it. As a free student-run community clinic, we would otherwise not be able to afford a good EMR.

I especially like the interface for the patient schedule, which has a really easy way to record vitals and where the patient is (in the lobby, in a specific room, etc) that I like better than other EMRs I've used.

One of the biggest frustrations is that PF only imports PDFs of lab results, but does nothing to allow manipulation of the numbers within these PDFs. I can pull up lab results but can't look at a graph, for example, of trends in serum sodium or hematocrit.

Like EPIC, it would be nice to have an option like scrolling to all the "***"s using F2, which I always try to do on PF until I realize it does not work.

I wish PF had more dot phrases to pull in things like lab results, etc., into the note. Since I cannot copy and paste lab results (which are stored in PDF) or blow them in with a dot phrase, I have to manually re-write them, which leaves our notes more vulnerable to human error. If this feature DOES exist, it isn't obvious to me or anyone in our clinic.

It would be really nice to hear from PF support to see if we had any unmet needs in the clinic so that they could educate us on how to better use this EMR to support those needs.

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.

When uploading documents, I wish you could assign multiple documents to the "same settings"- for example, 5 documents uploaded to the same patient and the same doctor.

We honestly don't use Practice Fusion to its fullest functionality- we could use the communication and scheduling tools more often.

The "view" feature for documents doesn't always work and I'm unsure if this has to do with the document or their side of things- but this would be a great feature if it functioned properly.

Fast referral preparation

Easy message

Easy templates

Faster updates

Referral to outside Practice Fusion physicians

Pinned notes need to pop up in patient record

You can't beat the cost

The program is easy to use.

It has several good billing partners

Some of the features have not yet been implemented and they are listed in the forum as "coming soon" but dated over a year ago. We have been suggesting an alert or message feature that does not become part of the chart for over a year. This would be a way for staff to communicate important information to each other.

Update 2017: Almost 3 years later, this is still listed as "coming soon". Other EHR's that I have used have a feature such as an exclamation mark that alert every provider working with a patient that there is important information pertinent to their care.

It gets "hung up" in the afternoons at times and becomes very slow.

Organizes lab work for each patient. Its helpful for us to see a patient at a glance.

Schedule appointments for patients.

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.

Provides MU platform for users.

Free software...great for smaller/lower volume practices.

Customization...you get what you pay for.

Interfacing with hospital systems.

Ergonomics of system...not intuitive.

Meaningful use compliance

Proper Documentation

A web-based application that does not need an additional IT vendor to setup.

I'd suggest adding more CQMs.