EMR Review: Elation EMR
By Dr. Terra Caudill
Updated: April 2014
Summary Review:
Company: ElationEMR
Pros:
• No setup fee
• Clear pricing on website
• No contract required
• Free 30-day trial
• Full demo on website
• Mobile compatible without App
• Easy export into another EMR
• Very good customer service
Cons:
• $3,750 fee to full import from another EMR
• No online patient self-pay
• No practice branding
• Your website must use their name
Price: $249/mo
Setup Fee: none
Website: ElationEMR.com
Editor’s Questions:
General:
Q: Do you cater to cash-only physician practices?
A: Yes, we cater to direct-pay and cash-only physicians practices.
Q: What makes your product different from all the other EMR/PM systems on the market?
A: Our roots make us different. Our co-founders, Kyna & Conan Fong, grew up in their father’s family practice. When Dr. Fong enlisted their support to find an EMR, they realized none were built from the clinicians perspective and all detracted from patient care. Kyna left faculty at Stanford and Conan a career in health-IT to launch Elation. The co-founder of Facebook, Dustin Moskovitz, and the IDEO, the world renowned design firm, are a few of our investors. Together, with a team of world class team of engineers, we’ve built the only clinical-first EMR, that acts like physicians think. We’re known for being incredibly intuitive, easy to use and easy to implement. Physicians needs less than 60 minutes of training to see patients and you can go-live with Elation the next business day after signing up. Many physicians consider us the Apple of EMR. To sum it up, Elation is different because we build tools physicians love (as the majority of our users have been quoted saying). It is this love, and the intuitive back-bone of Elation, that allows us to shine above any feature or competitor.
Electronic Medical Record (EMR)/Patient Portal:
Q: Include e-prescribing and labs? If so, which vendors do you use/extra fees?
A: Yes, e-prescribing and labs are included with your subscription.
Q: Work with Dragon/other speech recognition software?
A: Yes, many of our physicians dictate into Elation with Dragon.
Q: Available as true white label, with no URL directs away from my website? Fees?
A: No white label as Elation backs our portal’s HIPAA standard security. We are considering co-branding in the future. There are no fees for the portal, everything is included.
Q: Can the patient request appointment times from my calendar?
A: We currently do not have online scheduling for patients, although the patient can message you requesting an appointment. There are also third party apps that can add that functionality.
Q: Offer Waiting List function?
A: No.
Q: Offer appointment reminders via email/text?
A: No appointment reminders currently. Staff can send post date reminder messages though.
Q: Can the patient choose which types of alerts they want to opt into/out of?
A: Yes, they can choose to be notified via email or text message.
Q: Can the patient enter their own allergies and current medications?
A: Not yet, but they do have access to their clinical profile.
Q: Offer customizable forms and document upload capability?
A: Coming soon.
Q: Message/ticket system for question exchange?
A: Yes, you and/or your staff are notified on practice home page of patient messages.
Q: Offer legal consent forms with e-signature capability?
A: You can send handouts and documents, no e-signature capability. There are third party apps for e-signature functionality.
Q: Offer live video, text, email or fax functions?
A: There are live messaging and fax functions.
Practice Management (PM):
Q: Can patients self-pay online via credit card in their patient portal?
A: No, Elation currently does not have built in merchant services.
Q: Are the patients provided with an invoice with CPT codes?
A: We have built the foundation for invoicing into Elation and are in process of completion.
Q: Can I export my invoices into Quicken?
A: Elation produces billing reports which can then be entered into your billing system.
System:
Q: Is it cloud based and mobile-responsive?
A: Yes, 100% cloud-based, accessible on mobile devices.
Q: What format is used to export patient information into another system?
A: CCD.
Q: How often is my information backed up/How many servers do you have?
A: Every night, on both the West and East coast, we use Amazon cloud services and utilize network boxes.
Q: What support will I have/extra fees?
A: Unlimited support is included in your subscription. Currently, we provide 24/7 response within 30 minutes on our lowest subscription rate.
Pricing:
Q: What is your monthly fee?
A: $249/mo with the first month free.
Q: What is your initial setup/implementation fee?
A: None, everything is included in the subscription.
Q: Do you require a contract/how long?
A: No contracts, our users can leave anytime they desire. We will provide your data and support transition to another system if desired.
Q: What is the cost of adding additional physicians at a later date?
A: You can extend your current pricing up to 90 days to another provider, after which pricing will be at the rate options available.
Q: Are there any other fees for any other services/functions that I have not asked about?
A: Only if you desire a full clinical and demographic migration from another EMR. This is $3,750. Most of our users don’t need this, because we import demographics and PDFs complimentary.
Summary:
Q: Any features currently in development that will be added soon?
A: Always, we release updates every two weeks.
Q: Are there any other important features of your system that I haven’t asked about?
A: Several, such as ease of physician collaboration, our Elation provider network and much more.