officemate vs. maximize
Can anybody tell me their experience with these two programs pros and
cons. We are about to choose one for the office and I need some info.
The doctors are worried about the training these to companies offer with
installation and which one is the easiest to adapt to right now our office
is using surepractice. Any input would be appreciated.
Last edited by mirandaok; 02-28-2006 at 10:58 PM.
I walked in to an office that uses maximeyes and with in a week i was comfortably navigating all aspects of the soft ware. My new girl is a little slower on the uptake but I think it plays into your over all comuter saviness. I would give maximeyes a B+. There are a few areas that I would like to change but overall it is the best system I have ever used.
I use Maximeyes, so I should be wildly enthusiastic...
It's powerful, no doubt. It's expensive. It can do many, many things. Having said that, I'd take a real hard look at Officemate, because it's so well-used. It may become the premier software, if it isn't already.
It all comes down to function. You need to know what these baby's can do.
I don't know much about Maximeyes but I have always heard that Officemate is a good program plus I believe (but am not sure) that it is possible to merge data from Frames Data into the program so you wouldn't have to enter each frame manually. Not 100% sure about this though.
;)
My new girl.......?Originally Posted by cinders831
I've used Maximeyes in the past, and it is certainly powerful. Still needs polish as of a year ago, but I hear version...7? is going to be SQL-powered, which should be pretty nice, particularly if they can clean up the frontend a little more. It does work with Frames Data, it's worth noting.
The only version of Officemate I've seen is a very old one, so I can't really compare the two. The very old (it was the release from 1997 or '98) one that I used briefly wasn't very impressive, but I'm sure it has little relation to whatever the current one is like other than the name.
the practice I work in uses OfficeMate and it seems like a very complete and easy way to manage a office. I love how we can link some of our equipment into ExamWriter and instantly save links to certain imagery (in my case, a Kowa fundus camera and Optomap). It's a little bit of a pain with the other stuff b/c we have to manually link the documents to the patient's profile (Atlas, OCT, HRT3, etc...) because there isn't some sort of conduit program available to port information between the machine and the OfficeMate server. As far as processing orders, it's a little clunky to me because of the way the orders print out and the information fields seem like they are a little illogically placed. Overall, I have a lot more positive feelings about OM than negative, as it is really easy to use and the way it integrates the exam room with the retail floor makes for a much more efficient workflow.
Sorry, our new optician.
Okay so the problem that we are having with officemate is the billing to V.S.P
(vision service plan) One of our doctors say that he's been told it won't bill online. Which will be kind of hard on our office because we deal with alot of
v.s.p. So does anyone know for sure if this is true. Will office mate connect with eyefinity for billing????
I too use Officemate and while I like it, I find some of it hard to figure out and I've been using it now for almost 4 years. I did see a demo of Officemate and it looked pretty easy to use althugh I heard it wasn't going to be compatible for billing vsp.
We have been stuck with Maximeyes Software - the whole package from management, recall, financials, and patient records - and there is not a single part of this package, with the possible exception of patient recall (how hard to print postcard labels...?) that works even adequately. The patient records, after my using this sytem for over five years, are absolutely counterintuitive; extremely poor in documentation; no feasible, workable way to draw or make more personal notes unless one has an hour per patient. All the point-and-click steps are all over the screen with no smooth logic or layout; and it is extremely hard to find something from past records. While it was promised repeatedly by Maximeyes sales people, absolutely no other piece of our equipment, be it the digital cameras, Marco autorefractor, NCT, Humphreys, lensometer, will interface with it. And don't even think of asking for technical support: If Maximeyes even calls back, it will be days later, and their "support" ALWAYS corrupts something else in the system. Above all, do not pay for system "upgrades" because they also erase or corrupt past custom applications and corrections. Furthermore, this system does NOT smoothly integrate with VSP or the clearinghouse for MediCare.
I have been in private practice for thirty years, and buying MaximEyes software continues to be my biggest mistake and biggest waste of money,
About Officemate and VSP....
I talked to one of their technology development people about 2 months ago, and getting a VSP/Officemate interface module is top priority. She said they had hoped by Vision Expo East, and laughed. Realistically, probably late 2009 or early 2010.
Since VSP now owns Marchon/Officemate, and has its own electronic billing service (eyefinity), the interface will obviously be done ASAP.
For those that remember, about 12 years ago VSP abruptly stopped trying to interface with all the software companies. It was because they were introducing their own Office Management software, SurePractice. It tanked.
Harry
Have used both.
Wasted over six months of my life having to re-program the $4,000+ modual for Maximeyes that was supposed to allow it to interface with Eyefinity and VSP. Complete Joke. Never worked. We wasted countless man hours trying in vain to get it to do what we needed it to. And at best, we found we had to spend an average of over ten minutes to submit each claim because it kept getting kicked back for various errors that the program generated. We could submit the same claim through the Eyefinity website in about a minute. MUCH easier that way.
We're on Officemate again now in my new practice, and I used it once in a previous practice as well. It's not perfect - and I do not believe any program ever will be. But it's the best I've yet used in private optometry. It also implements with Frames data, but as a rule, the CD's they send don't include correct or complete info, so we end up just inputing our frame inventory by hand. We're small enough in our frame volume that this approach works well for us now.
At any rate - between the two of them with all things being equal - I'd choose Officemate in a heartbeat over Maximeyes.
I'm using that old POS EZ Frame program. It has a link to Frames Data (that is no longer supported by them), a link to EyeMed (that was never developed...it be dead), and no ability to print directly onto a postcard (although you can play with mailmerge in Word and get it to do so). There is no way to draw in the records, no way to merge with data from anything, (Optos, retinal camera, autorefractor/keratometer, lensometers, toptographers etc.) New insurance plans are not very easy to enter either. But... you can track payments and charges, print labels (for recall, etc) inventory frames, contacts & etc. (entered manually), print receipts. It's relatively cheap, the guys/gals that I've worked with in tech support have been pleasant and helpful. We were told that they were going to d/c support for this product at the end of '08, but in the letter they sent out at the end of '08 said that they were going to continue to support it as a low cost option to Maximeyes...and were going to incorperate some updates (hopefully concering some of what I listed above). It's definitely NOT perfect, but neither is anything else. It is relatively cheap though. I'm waiting for something better right now.
Before you choose, there's another one about to hit the market that will probably change your perspective for what's out there. It'll be out before the end of April.
Your EZ-Frame was originally from AlphaBytes and is a Turbo Pascal application from the mid eighties. It was never designed t do much of what you cite.
A good program, for the 1980's but not today.
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