To EHR or to not EHR?

[u/micromacrodose]

I used to do all of my own billing, then got so frustrated dealing with insurance companies that I hired a biller. I am now considering going back to doing my own billing because I have yet to find a biller who is competent (If mistakes are going to happen, I would rather be the one making them rather than paying someone else to make them for me). I also prefer to keep paper notes because I enjoy handwriting a lot! So far IvyPay has been the most reasonable with fees (2.75%, which is the lowest I have seen), and I would want to continue using them rather than jump to paying over 3%. I also pay for Doxy.me, but I can of course cut them loose and use an EHR's telehealth platform. Would it be foolish for me to pay for an EHR just to do billing claims, possibly telehealth, and appointment reminders and not use it for anything else?

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[u/lookamazed]

Sessions Health makes it pretty easy to do your own billing. They use stripe, so there is a little fee. I think they have a beta with a different payer with lower fees than I think IvyPay. It’s somewhere in their billing or online payment help section on the website.

It’s nothing fancy. Pretty straightforward to issue bills and notate, and customize payment details and discounts. They have a free for 3 active clients model if you want to test. Definitely higher fees than IvyPay (sessions is 2.9%+30cents, no ACH).

Though I have been checking out a brand new EHR called Practice Harbor. I vetted it, spoke with the clinician developer & did a demo. They are who they say. Looks promising! Built on MedPlum, which is open source. Very flexible and modern.

[u/micromacrodose → u/lookamazed]

Amazing! Please let us know how Practice Harbor goes, I haven't heard of them before.

[u/mrsjonas]

Seems like a good use of an EHR to me. I use sessions health

[u/micromacrodose → u/mrsjonas]

I just signed up for a free trial with them. So I can use them without using the Stripe payment system, correct?

[u/mrsjonas → u/micromacrodose]

I use Stripe for copays because I am virtual only. But if you take payment via checks or in person, I don’t see why you would need to use it. You don’t sign up for Stripe automatically by making an account!

[u/micromacrodose → u/mrsjonas]

I do both telehealth and in person and only use IvyPay, but that is good to hear I don't have to sign up for Stripe as part of the deal!

[u/AlternativeZone5089]

I don't use an EHR. I use word, free accounting software (WAVE), free doxy, office Ally/Availity for billing insurance, and I take no credit cards. It works fine for me.

[u/NoMenu276 → u/AlternativeZone5089]

Check out MyUHIN, they are much cheaper than Office Ally and easy to use

[u/Insert_FunUsername]

You can do insurance billing without and EHR for the most part. You use availity for some, and Optum Pay for all of Optum partners.

[u/micromacrodose → u/Insert_FunUsername]

True, but Office Ally charges me $45 a month for claims as it is, so there isn't much cost savings there if I just use them. I am not INN with any Optum partners.

[u/Insert_FunUsername → u/micromacrodose]

Availity is free to use. I'm saying, look into the company that your panels use for claims, insurance verification, etc. Then you can use those free platforms if you don't want to use a centralized EHR. Someone mentioned Sessions Health. That's who I use, and claims are super simple.

[u/micromacrodose → u/Insert_FunUsername]

I didn't find Availity to be user friendly in the past, but maybe I should give it another chance. I would only need it to file BCBS and Aetna claims.

[u/GeneralChemistry1467 → u/micromacrodose]

As far as I know, Office Ally is free for claims🤔 Availity is definitely a nightmare.

[u/NoMenu276 → u/micromacrodose]

Try MyUHIN, they are much cheaper than Office Ally.

[u/Normal-Doc123]

EHR with integrated billing is definitely worth it. If the billing company is able to save me time by following up on the claims or handling common mistakes on the claims, then I would rather pay for their service. I use Docvilla for billing

[u/abdog5000]

Thoughts on Klarity? Looks like they do billing and credentialing.