MIP Good for use in FQHC's
Updated February 26, 2018

MIP Good for use in FQHC's

Erich Koch | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Abila MIP Fund Accounting

We are a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and use MIP to keep track of all our financial accounting information. We use MIP to properly track our various grants via revenue/fund codes, and we also use MIP to scan in invoices and contracts so we can have everything stored digitally which makes finding and retrieving historical information easier. MIP is also used to keep track of our fixed assets, and we use MIP to track our various departments so individual financial statements can be produced for these areas with ease.
MIP is a good product if you understand its capabilities and are willing to invest the time to set up its many robust features. When I first used MIP I did not like the program due to never using it before. Once I started using it though, and began to understand its various features, I learned to love this program because it allows for finance professionals working in FQHCs to capture data in ways to satisfy federal reporting requirements for things like the UDS and Medicare Cost Report more easily. Also if you set it up correctly, you may not need as many people in the accounting department to get the work done thanks to distribution tables, stored ability to retrieve and use old JE entries, and being able to upload large amounts of data like a payroll.
We are looking to expand our use of MIP via the payroll module which we feel would eliminate having to import 3 entries that we have to do through ADP. MIP is a really good product provided it is set up correctly from day one and you take the time to learn how to use it's features properly.
  • It allows you to create folders in which you can scan invoices, business associate contracts, and contracts in general by vendor. This allows us to keep everything in one place digitally. The good thing about this is that it speeds up finding old invoices, and allows you to send audit selections to the auditor faster due to the items selected already being scanned in digitally.
  • MIP allows for the creation of distribution codes. These are nice as they allow you to charge out common costs to multiple departments in a quick manner. Without this feature, one has to key in manually many line items into the system each and every month. Plus this feature allows for consistency, and elimination of keying errors.
  • If you have the Chart of Accounts set up properly, this system allows you to better track items by departments, Revenue/Fund codes, Location, and by GL. This is important as it allows for better analysis, tracking and reporting.
  • As for the budgeting module, this is also nice as you have the ability to upload your budget via a CSV file or you can manually cut and paste your numbers from excel into the system as well. The key thing though is setting up your budget template to match the format in MIP when cutting and pasting.
  • They need to better explain how to create definition files so end users can learn how to upload large amounts of data into the system. As of right now, most end users have to contact a consultant to create the definition file and pay literally thousands of dollars in order to do uploads.
  • The financial statement reports could be better. When I created the income statement, the profit is shown as a credit, while a loss is shown as a debit which makes it look funny for presentation purposes. I now have to key everything into Excel so it doesn't do this. The reports could be better if it allowed a way to add statistics to the report. Most FQHCs present stats like visits, Days Cash on Hand and so on. It would be nice to be able to have these stats shown in the financial statements.
  • MIP needs to allow for easier copying and pasting items into the fields. In the Budget module, you can't right click and paste. You need to select the "Edit" and then paste from the drop down menu.
  • Hard to quantify the return on investment. Purchasing accounting software is a necessary evil and the payback is hard to measure. Basically MIP is another expense we incur each month in order to keep our books. If MIP could add some better features to its system, there could be a better ROI.
  • I think if you have MIP set up properly you could probably eliminate an FTE from your accounting department. I was able to get by with 2 people when most places would of had 3 or 4 with the same amount of work. The key though is knowing how to use the product, and setting it up correctly.
Our organization has achieved this objective with MIP via the creation of multiple Revenue/Fund codes in which the various grants are kept track by. We have about 10 grants and are able to run financials for each grant individually or consolidated.
We do not work with an MIP partner. I pay MIP an annual fee for support and maintenance which MIP does not really provide because they want you to use a "Partner" to fix the problem or answer the question. If you use a "Partner" then you have to pay for that service as well. Makes you wonder why I am paying MIP an annual maintenance fee for support when they don't really want to provide this service as they try to get you to use a partner instead. Most of the stuff in MIP is easy to do or administer hence the need for a partner is greatly diminished.
  • Fund EZ
Fund EZ is a product I found out about from a previous employment stint. It has a lot of the features MIP has but is not nearly as good. I would consider using this product if MIP continues to raise fees.
Because I work in the FQHC world, I would recommend this product specifically for any business or end user within that field. This product allows people in this field to comply with federal reporting requirements, makes it easier to track grants, and allows for the slicing and dicing of financial statements in many ways which is important in this field. This product is good for most day to day accounting functions and is pretty robust as well for an FQHC. This product is probably less appropriate for large healthcare systems where you want to keep track of statistics which this product cannot currently do.

MIP Fund Accounting Feature Ratings