Hospital extends eCW to Private Practices
February 10, 2015

Hospital extends eCW to Private Practices

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

eCW 10.0.80

Modules Used

  • PM/EHR

Overall Satisfaction with eClinicalWorks

  • Intuitive to use. Many of our practices are changing from paper and having worked with other EHR vendors before, I believe that eCW is more intuitive to use than other systems which helps in the transition from paper medical records.
  • Quick implementation. The standard install for eCW usually only takes a few weeks and most of this work is done remotely which saves the practice money.
  • Economical. The cost of a standard eCW solution is comparable to other vendors of similar quality.
  • Communication gap. Most of the support staff at eCW are Indian which often times creates a language barrier between the clinics and eCW.
  • Training. Training is only one week on site for the week of go-live and then everything else is done remote or is up to the practice to watch webinars which has been a complaint of many practices.
  • Upcharges. The standard product from eCW is decent but there are often upcharges for basic additional functionality that practices feel should be included.
I've also used NextGen and Epic. I believe that Epic is by far the best EHR on the market for medium-large healthcare organizations. There are downsides however including the cost of the Epic solution which makes it cost prohibitive for some organizations to implement Epic. NextGen is more geared towards specialties, in my opinion, and is in a similar market as eCW. With that being said, I believe eCW is a much better solution than NextGen based upon ease of use, price, functionality and support.
I think eClinicalWorks is a good, economical solution for most small-medium size healthcare organizations. It's not going to do everything that an Epic solution could but often times organizations aren't necessarily looking for all the bells and whistles of an Epic solution so a less robust solution like eCW is a perfect fit. The solution is quick to implement and clinicians, administrators and staff usually pick up on how to use eCW much quicker than what I've seen with other EHRs (Epic, NextGen, etc.). I think it all comes down the organization and what they are trying to get out of their EHR but for the vast majority of ambulatory settings I would say eCW will meet their needs.

eClinicalWorks Feature Ratings

Real-time eligibility verification
Not Rated
Coding
6
Claims management
5
Patient billing
6
Financial Reporting
4
Rule-based scheduling
5
Automated patient check-in
Not Rated
Automated appointment reminders
8
Multi-location support
6
Calendar interface
Not Rated
Charting / document management
7
Templates
6
E-prescribing
8
Fax integration
8
Patient portal
7
Mobile/tablet support
8
Speech recognition
8
Integration with other EMR and PM systems
3
Customization
6
Workflow automation
4
Role-based permission levels
9
Data backups and redundancy
7
HIPAA compliance
8
Local mode / networking failsafe
6
Task tracking
6
Specialty-specific workflows
4
Multi-office / multi-physician capabilities
6

Using eClinicalWorks

50 - All aspects of operating a private pracitce: front desk, clinicians, billers, administrators, etc.
  • Billing
  • Clinical Documentation
  • Scheduling
  • Reporting

Evaluating eClinicalWorks and Competitors

  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability

eClinicalWorks Implementation

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.
Change management was a small part of the implementation and was well-handled
  • Language barrier between the practices and eCW implmentation staff.
  • The lack of on site guidance from eCW as most all of the implementation was done remotely.
  • The time frame for implementation is very short so if one deadline is missed then it has the potential to push every other milestone back.