Practice Management Software Reviews

**blueme@BES** · 08-19-2015, 10:51 AM

I'm in the process of selecting and comparing software programs for my dispensary. Currently we are using an outdated version of Officemate. The doctors don't want to invest the $5K to upgrade it, but want a program that can "do it all" for as cheaply as possible. My docs don't want to spend more than $125.00 a month. I'm looking for a program which also facilitates Medicare post-cat eyewear along with the usual retail aspects, inventory control and accounting. We do not accept any vision plans at this time. Only Medicare and perhaps Medicaid for glasses later on. I'm unable to find a program that will bill directly to Medicare w/o going thru a "clearinghouse".

Does anyone have an opinion about Wink? I can keep the free Wink trial long as I want. And, has anyone heard of one called Flexsys which can do everything but is costly? Anyone have any experience with Blink?

I am open to any suggestions of systems to look at and your reviews of same.

**David_Garza** · 08-19-2015, 11:48 AM

Look into CRYSTALPM

**Wes** · 08-22-2015, 10:42 AM

Contact your lab/s to see what practice management software is integrated with their LMS software, and research those. This can eliminate re-keying information, by having a "send to lab" button to click.

**MrOptician** · 08-22-2015, 11:41 AM

Hello,

Find a good Programmer to create your own software . Note all the features you need.

Cost effective.

Thank you

**rbaker** · 08-22-2015, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by MrOptician

Hello,

Find a good Programmer to create your own software . Note all the features you need.

Cost effective.

Thank you

Well, maybe "good programmers" work cheap in Saudi Arabia but the programmers in Boulder will charge quite a bit more that blueme's cheap boss is willing to part with.

You might want to check with your lab, billing and accounting people as Wes suggested. I doubt that you will be able to find a single solution to integrate with all three so you will have to decide which function will save you the most time and generate the least error.

**David_Garza** · 08-22-2015, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by MrOptician

Hello,

Find a good Programmer to create your own software . Note all the features you need.

Cost effective.

Thank you

Why pay a professional programmer to reinvent the wheel????

**rbaker** · 08-22-2015, 04:36 PM

Originally Posted by David_Garza

Why pay a professional programmer to reinvent the wheel????

MrOptician has a valid point. The "wheels" being offered by software vendors may not be an exact fit to the business process of a given practice. Every business has different need or places more emphasis on certain aspects of their practice and no off-the-shelf application can fit those business needs exactly or, in most cases, come even close. For example some practices place a high value on inventory management while other have no use at all for this function. In particular the accounting process might be the key feature while there are other practices want no GAAP accounting, that is to say they want to keep two sets of books - nod, nod, wink, wink - one set for them and one set for the IRS.

What we typically see is the business purchasing a practice management system and adapting their business process to the PMS and running other separate applications for other functions, typically accounting.

**blueme@BES** · 08-24-2015, 09:52 AM

OK, thanks guys. Have appointment with rep. from Crystal this morning. Agree, hiring a programmer is not the way to go. Remember, this is Boulder!! My MD's aren't cheap exactly, just want the most bang for their buck and who doesn't? An Optician friend has "Wink" on her home computer, so I'll look at that on Friday. Keep you all posted on my progress and which of the 6 PMS's I'm looking at will be the winner.

**blueme@BES** · 09-03-2015, 09:57 AM

Update:
I'm looking seriously at Eye Cloud Pro. I liked Crystal a lot and they have a "cloud" version but the fees are also based on per computer. Anyone out there have experience with them. I welcome feedback.

**Andrew Kaufman** · 09-17-2015, 11:32 PM

There are a lot of options out there and hence deciding on one can sometimes seem a daunting task. At the end of it all, it dresses down to what you actually expect out of your software. If you are okay with the features available to you, well and good, go for it. Otherwise, if you feel like you could perhaps do more, then choose a software that has an option to be customized according to your needs. I've heard about Eye Could Pro and it does seem like a good enough option. I, for instance, use MultiFlex POS system: http://multiflexrms.com/retail-manag.../nutrition-pos at my store, which has worked well for me till date. I'm glad that you did not hire a programmer to reinvent the wheel and whichever one you choose, make sure that it has all the required features. All the best.

**blueme@BES** · 09-18-2015, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by Andrew Kaufman

There are a lot of options out there and hence deciding on one can sometimes seem a daunting task. At the end of it all, it dresses down to what you actually expect out of your software. If you are okay with the features available to you, well and good, go for it. Otherwise, if you feel like you could perhaps do more, then choose a software that has an option to be customized according to your needs. I've heard about Eye Could Pro and it does seem like a good enough option. I, for instance, use MultiFlex POS system: http://multiflexrms.com/retail-manag.../nutrition-pos at my store, which has worked well for me till date. I'm glad that you did not hire a programmer to reinvent the wheel and whichever one you choose, make sure that it has all the required features. All the best.

Since we already have an account, we decided on the cloud version of Eyefinity/Officemate for an additional $50.00 mo. They waived set up fees because of prior acct. and were having a promo b/c it is a prototype but complete enough for our needs. For example, some data won't transfer so the old Officemate acct. will be deactivated as a "read only" acct. We'll have to go back and forth for a while which is a pain. Some reports won't be available till next year. But another deciding factor is we recently decided not to take any insurance/vision plans for the optical. YAY!!!!! We are free standing and self pay only. Can hardly believe my luck sometimes! Basically I only need ordering, reports, inventory and a calendar. Should things change in future we can always utilize the rest of the program. My boss was determined a PMS "cloud" version is the way to go and I agree. Set up fees are high especially if you want data transfer - and why wouldn't you - but much lower costs in the long run. Did my research and the choices are daunting! Narrow it down to exactly what you want and take your time! The no insurance thing was pivotal for me. One PMS I liked in particular is called Uprise, created by Vision Web. Set up was $5K and $775.00 mo. They have a waiting list to get on their system thru end of 1st Qtr 2016. I'm sure the monthly fee will be lower by then but they had EVERYTHNG, including EHR/EMR, intuitive, user friendly, easy to learn, well thought out. That's a steep monthly fee but set-up is about average.
Good luck to all you researchers out there! You'll learn a lot. I sure did!

**ChavaCha** · 10-01-2015, 10:20 PM

Avoid all the big guys if you care about the optical. I know peopl that have worked for many of them and they have issues. The worst vendors would be MaximEyes and OfficeMate. Many of them down right lie about their support. MyVisionExpress has decent software but has bad support. MaximEyes claims they have support in the U.S. But it's more like one and half support techs in the U.S. They like to spout how much uS support but it's like 5% uS support and 95% in India. Try calling OfficeMate/ Eyefunity and get pointed to a video. I'll be honest much of the optical/ optometry systems are dated and flawed.

**blueme@BES** · 10-02-2015, 10:32 AM

Originally Posted by ChavaCha

Avoid all the big guys if you care about the optical. I know peopl that have worked for many of them and they have issues. The worst vendors would be MaximEyes and OfficeMate. Many of them down right lie about their support. MyVisionExpress has decent software but has bad support. MaximEyes claims they have support in the U.S. But it's more like one and half support techs in the U.S. They like to spout how much uS support but it's like 5% uS support and 95% in India. Try calling OfficeMate/ Eyefunity and get pointed to a video. I'll be honest much of the optical/ optometry systems are dated and flawed.

I am well aware of the tech support issues with Officemate. We are already a Officemate account. The price was right and we needed to move on something soon. Did my research and this made the most sense. To be clear, this is not the upgraded Officemate but the Eyefinity PMS cloud. It is still a proto-type and updates will come next year. Unfortunately, same tech support. They provide up to 60 days of support once we transition. We only need a minimum of features. No contacts, no EHR, no insurance billing AT ALL! In the future, we can always utilize the rest of the system if, God forbid, we start taking insurance.
There are better systems out there and a smorsgasboard of choices. Just do your research. I really liked Uprise an Crystal, but we are a one-person show here with minimal needs and Eyefinity was the best fit. Keep you posted on our progress and feedback about this system.

**ilanh** · 01-06-2016, 07:42 PM

I just looked at Wink's free software on their website. So far it looks excellent. I've had the opportunity to demo similar software and this is the one I liked the best. Since it's free it seems like there's not much downside in trying it out.

**Christine Murtha** · 06-09-2016, 09:00 PM

We signed up with My VisionExpress and have not been happy at all. Too much time and poor support. We want something fast that we can just type in a frame and not have to put every little item in the "inventory". We have the old and simple DOS Officemate and is very user friendly, but have heard the new version is not so. I will consider having a simple one created unless anyone out there
has a suggestion of a happy user friendly one.

**Arturo Rios Jr** · 08-10-2016, 02:28 PM

I just moved to a private practice that is switching from acuitylogic(they feel like its under delivering) to compulink. but I worked at an office that has had compulink for a while. and they felt like the fees per computer were getting to high for a service they already had, they didnt take any insurance so maybe they werent using a lot of what compulink had to offer. not having much expereince in the private sector I was suprised that compulink wasnt mentioned in this thread.

**Christine Murtha** · 08-12-2016, 06:45 AM

After trial uses of My Vision Express and Wink, we decided thoses were not for us. Instead, we are now using "QuickBooks." You can make it your own, very easy, don't have to have everything in the inventory, and very inexpensive! Now I am happy!

**Uncle Fester** · 08-24-2016, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by Christine Murtha

After trial uses of My Vision Express and Wink, we decided thoses were not for us. Instead, we are now using "QuickBooks." You can make it your own, very easy, don't have to have everything in the inventory, and very inexpensive! Now I am happy!

But will it meet "Meaningful Use 2" requirements?

I'm anything but computer literate and look forward to someone more knowledgeable to comment on what's required coming I believe in October.

Am I on the wrong track when I say much of the problem lies in no agreed language from one program to another and decoupling eye wear from medical would help?

Found this link- Maybe I'm behind the times! I don't deal with the billing end of the practice (thankfully!!!).

http://www.aoa.org/news/health-care-...tandards?sso=y

We use Ocuoco's EMR Logic (formerly OD Pro) which is very good on the medical Meaningful Use requires, but very frustrating for us in optical. It's expensive as well!

**rbaker** · 08-24-2016, 10:17 AM

The problem that has faced the developers of software for the eye care business has been the integration of accounting, record keeping and insurance billing into a single easy to use package.

Accounting! No problemo.There are a lot of excellent accounting applications on the market such as Quick Books, Quicken, Sage and many others. These applications will handle accounts receivable, accounts payable, inventory and payroll and provide you CPA with all the accurate information he need to keep you out of jail on April15^th.

Record keeping! Again no problemo. Microsoft Office coupled with a good scanner and Dragon Speak and a digital video camera will do anything that need to capture and store and retrieve all of your monkey business.

Insurance billing! Big problem. Here the cheese gets real binding. It seem that every insurer and clearing house has different gateways. Add to this that plans, coverages and eligibilities are constantly changing and you have an ever-changing state of confusion.

That being said I pity the poor fool that is trying to implement and support a turnkey software application in this ever-changing world.

If I were still laboring in the eye care vineyard and werefoolish enough to be accepting payments from third parties I would have Sage50, Microsoft Office and billing software from each insurer that I used.

**ivanschafier** · 09-28-2016, 09:30 AM

Well with Wink it would cost you only 100$/month for unlimited support and you actually have all functionalities that you are looking for. Call them for a demo

Originally Posted by blueme@BES

I'm in the process of selecting and comparing software programs for my dispensary. Currently we are using an outdated version of Officemate. The doctors don't want to invest the $5K to upgrade it, but want a program that can "do it all" for as cheaply as possible. My docs don't want to spend more than $125.00 a month. I'm looking for a program which also facilitates Medicare post-cat eyewear along with the usual retail aspects, inventory control and accounting. We do not accept any vision plans at this time. Only Medicare and perhaps Medicaid for glasses later on. I'm unable to find a program that will bill directly to Medicare w/o going thru a "clearinghouse".

Does anyone have an opinion about Wink? I can keep the free Wink trial long as I want. And, has anyone heard of one called Flexsys which can do everything but is costly? Anyone have any experience with Blink?

I am open to any suggestions of systems to look at and your reviews of same.

**David_Garza** · 09-28-2016, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by ivanschafier

Well with Wink it would cost you only 100$/month for unlimited support and you actually have all functionalities that you are looking for. Call them for a demo

**StacyM** · 09-30-2016, 07:59 AM

Hi, I'm an optical only, no doctor and no insurance... Any recommendations on a Mac based optical software that I can use on iPads? I don't need any bells and whistles, I would love it to integrate with vision web or labs to prevent re-keying...

**ivanschafier** · 09-30-2016, 08:17 AM

yes Wink integrates Essilor so that you can send orders directly to the lab without double typing. Mac works and you can also get the ipad version. you can call ted at 514-447-2057 ext 223or toll free number 1-888-764-4318 ext 223

**StacyM** · 09-30-2016, 08:28 AM

Thank you, I will!

**danielccn** · 11-11-2017, 10:23 PM

Hi,

I have done a Customer Record program using Filemaker Pro all by myself without hiring a programmer... maybe you can try that yourself...as a lot of help can be obtain from Filemaker group in facebook which i did. I also done Daily Sales record, Inventory using this Filemaker....Also this can be use on Apple platform using Filemaker Go for Ipad and iphone. Which i also use to track my order lens .....It took me 3 months to coomplete the Customer record Program without any prior knowledge of programming.....so try that and see, coz i have been using it at my retail for almost 2 years now which work well for me....and also is customisable......according to your business or practise procedure....i started from their existing template and work my way through and the final result works well for me at my retail stores.