DrChrono Medical Billing Review

Why DrChrono Is Best for New Practices

DrChrono’s low cost and user-friendliness make it a great fit for new practices that want to get started with a lightweight medical software and experienced billing partner. With multiple pricing tiers, DrChrono has a plan for even the tightest budgets. DrChrono’s medical software is very easy to use, meaning your staff will need minimal training.

Usability

When you choose DrChrono’s RCM services, you must also use the company’s EMR software and practice management software (PMS), both of which are highly user-friendly. You should be able to navigate to most of your applications from the top of your EMR or PMS dashboard. Under the General tab you’ll find Patient Vitals, Calendar Settings, Appointment Settings, Meaningful Use, Clinical Notes and Communications.

On the reporting side, we were especially impressed with how customizable DrChrono is. You can create and sort reports on aging AR updates, appointment analysis, billing logs, charge analysis and lag, code analysis, collections analysis and denial analysis. Reports also show patient reports covering their analysis, authorization, unallocated payments, balance ledger, follow-up date and payments. Use the reports to reveal reimbursement and rejection analysis, insurance payer, inventory and sales tax, live claims feed, and CPT, HCPCS, ICD-10 Line Level reporting. Implementing these customizations to suit your unique workflow is also easy.

DrChrono Features

Here are some of DrChrono’s most compelling RCM features that can improve your medical billing:

Charge Entry and Coding

DrChrono manages your practice’s revenue cycle from start to finish, including medical coding. That means it enters and codes all your charges, so there is no need to handle these tasks in-house. This aspect of DrChrono’s managed billing services distinguishes it from some other providers that begin managing your revenue only after you enter and code charges on your own.

Claim Scrubbing and Monitoring

Every time DrChrono generates a medical claim for your practice, it scrubs the claim to free it of errors that would result in payer rejection. When DrChrono detects these errors, its medical billing and coding team adjusts your claims appropriately to maximize the chances of acceptance.

Additionally, DrChrono extensively monitors all claims it submits. Your DrChrono billing team will track all your claims until they are paid and will follow up on approved claims that go unpaid. DrChrono’s FPAR is 98 percent, meaning only two percent of claims DrChrono submits on behalf of your practice are denied or need extra work before resubmission. This acceptance rate is well within the range of DrChrono’s competitors. DrChrono even promises that over 96 percent of claims are paid in less than 60 days.

Denied-Claim Management

Although denied claims are infrequent with DrChrono, a few denials are inevitable. When these denials occur, DrChrono will handle them on your behalf. DrChrono’s billers will obtain all information available about the claim in question and use this data to revise it.

To manage your denied claims, DrChrono will access your EMRs to obtain relevant clinical documentation. DrChrono will revise and refile your claim or submit an appeal based on what your documentation reveals. In all cases, DrChrono resubmits denied claims no later than 48 hours after the payer denies or rejects them.

The RCM view displays information in helpful, easy-to-read graphs. Source: DrChrono

EMR and PMS Access

DrChrono’s RCM platform comes with its EMR system and PMS, and the company requires its medical billing clients to use both of those platforms. This is unusual, as most medical billing services require only that clients use their PMS.

However, the EMR system requirement isn’t a negative, especially considering that we chose DrChrono’s medical software as our best pick for new practices.

DrChrono offers tools to use eRx with e-Prescribe controlled substances (EPCS), medical templates and forms, lab integrations, custom vitals, and mobile usage on iOS devices. The front-end management allows you to view and use appointment profiles, reminders, online scheduling, real-time eligibility checks and kiosk mode. These features let you save time by using prebuilt profiles that can be customized for your specific practice.

Flexible Solutions

DrChrono’s RCM services suit practices of many sizes and claim volumes, but the company specializes in small practices. According to a company representative, most DrChrono client practices submit 100 to 1,000 claims per month and employ up to 25 care providers.

However, DrChrono doesn’t rule out larger clients. Company representatives told us that practices of any size can sign up for DrChrono’s medical billing services and immediately begin filing claims.

Depending on the size of your company, you’ll choose from four flexible plans: Prometheus, Hippocrates, Apollo and Apollo Plus. The tools range from offering customer support, practice management and administration, customer implementation, clinical tools and medical billing. For larger companies, we recommend Apollo Plus, which also offers revenue cycle management. The four plans allow providers to find a solution that fits their specific needs.

No Clearinghouse Fees

DrChrono has partnerships with the TriZetto, Carisk Partners and Change Healthcare clearinghouses, and the company absorbs the fees other nonintegrated providers might charge you. Put another way, the clearinghouse fees that are common with some other billing services are included in DrChrono’s pricing — you won’t pay an additional fee beyond your subscription for clearinghouse services.

Put another way, the clearinghouse fees that are common with some other billing services are included in DrChrono’s pricing. The result is that DrChrono’s clearinghouse is effectively integrated (and thus cost-free) even if this isn’t truly the case.

DrChrono Cost

Like all the RCM companies we reviewed, DrChrono charges a monthly percentage of your collections based on the actual Net Collections per month. This structure stands in contrast to that of medical software, for which you typically pay per provider per month. In some cases, you may be able to pay per encounter, but DrChrono has been open to negotiating a flat monthly fee. 

The percentage of collections your practice pays should range from 3 to 9 percent, with limited exceptions. The exact rate is based on the number of patients your practice sees per month, the number of providers and your specialty. The latter element may have the most profound impact on your rate, as some specialties’ billing processes are more complex than others.

Whatever your rate, DrChrono likely will ask you to commit to a one-year contract. This contract length is common among the medical billing services we reviewed but shorter than the three-year contract you’d need to sign from CareCloud.

DrChrono offers four different pricing tiers: Prometheus, Hippocrates, Apollo and Apollo Plus. To find out which plan is best for your practice, you can try a 30-day free trial and a free EHR demo that’s usable in an active clinical environment. During the trial, you’ll be able to use and create custom vitals, flags, workflow builders, patient form builder, check-in tool, scheduling functions, clinical charts and messaging inbox. However, the trial does restrict access for eRx, labs and reminders.

Setup

Some RCM services charge setup, implementation and clearinghouse fees, but DrChrono does not. You’ll incur no extra costs to get your software and services in place, with one exception: If you’re switching to DrChrono’s EMR system from another platform (i.e., you don’t already have DrChrono’s EMR system), you may incur data migration costs. Otherwise, training and implementation are included.

Additionally, DrChrono will pair you with a dedicated contact for your implementation and training with a dedicated account manager. DrChrono offers a faster implementation than other services for a 30- to 60-day implementation process. You’ll also receive a one-on-one web conferencing tool for your practice, and you can ask to record the video from these sessions. You can then reference the video time and again.

Customer Service

We like that DrChrono pairs you with a dedicated account manager you can contact for all customer service inquiries well after implementation. This contact can also provide any status reports you request. You can also file help tickets for technical issues or use the live chat support feature during working hours.

Should you have questions or concerns that you think you can resolve independently, you can explore the self-guided learning tools, like webinars, articles, blogs and videos available on DrChrono’s website. These resources focus mostly on concerns regarding navigation, customizability and troubleshooting. You’ll also find guides to DrChrono’s mobile app for iPhone and iPad.

Drawbacks

DrChrono’s RCM services are ideal for small practices, but there are some potential drawbacks. First, DrChrono requires you to use its EMR platform, which wasn’t the case for most of the RCM services we reviewed. So, if you’re already settled with another EMR platform, this requirement may be a dealbreaker. Migrating to DrChrono’s EMR  system may also result in data migration fees, although they are relatively low.

Another limitation is that DrChrono’s mobile app is only available for iOS mobile devices, not Android. This limits potential clients and requires your entire practice to switch fully to iOS if you’re coming from an Android-friendly medical billing software. For your office, DrChrono is only available on three browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari.

While we couldn’t verify the exact prices, DrChrono’s RCM services have been known to be on the pricier side. Your practice might end up needing to earn $15,000 to $30,000 in monthly revenue to use DrChrono’s RCM services. However, some new practices may struggle to immediately reach these amounts. If you’re looking for an RCM that sets no monthly minimum price, read our review of AdvancedMD medical billing services.

Methodology

We spent hours researching medical billing services. That research included software demonstrations, phone interviews and customer service calls, as well as analysis of customer service reviews available online, including those listed on the Better Business Bureau’s website. We spent several months browsing company websites, reading customer reviews and speaking with company representatives. When choosing the best for new practices, we analyzed billing services’ medical software and their experience working with very small practices. In our testing, we determined that DrChrono offers a lightweight software platform and a reliable billing service for new practices.

Overall Value

We recommend DrChrono Medical Billing for …

• New practices on a budget.
• Small practices that need core medical software functions.
• Practices that want flexible outsourced billing solutions.

We do not recommend DrChrono Medical Billing for …

• Practices already committed to another company’s EMR system.
• Practices looking for month-to-month RCM contracts.