EMR Review: Bridge Patient Portal (Patient Portal only)
By Dr. Terra Caudill
Updated: April 2014
Summary Review:
Company: Bridge Patient Portal
Pros:
• Clear pricing on website
• Month-to-month contract
• Easy export into another system
• Online patient self-pay
• White label
• Use your own URL ($500 fee)
• Good customer service
Cons:
• Expensive to add on top of your EMR/PM
• Pricing has increased 60% from 2014 to 2015
• Setup went from $0 to $1,250 from 2014 to 2015
• No free trial
• Require live demo
• Designed to view on desktop only
Price: $400/mo (up to 1,000 patients)
Setup Fee: $1,250 + $500 (custom url) = $1,750
Website: BridgePatientPortal.com
Editor’s Questions:
General:
Q: Do you cater to cash-only physician practices?
A: Yes.
Q: What makes your product different from all the other systems on the market?
A: This is not an EMR/PM system. Our Patient Portal integrates with any EMR to offer:
• Better medication adherence and reconciliation
• Customizable patient care plans with notifications
• Online bill pay and financial management tools
• Automated patient marketing
• Mobile responsive design for tablets and smartphones
• Custom intake forms deposited to your EMR
• Patient surveys and patient-centered data reporting
• Website and marketing campaign integrated
• Email and video consultations
Patient Portal:
Q: Available as true white label, with no URL directs away from my website? Fees?
A: Yes. $500 for a unique URL.
Q: Can the patient request appointment times from my calendar?
A: Yes, with access only through the patient portal.
Q: Offer Waiting List function?
A: Not currently.
Q: Offer appointment reminders via email/text?
A: Yes.
Q: Can the patient choose which types of alerts they want to opt into/out of?
A: Currently in development, scheduled for release by the end of June 2014.
Q: Can the patient enter their own allergies and current medications?
A: Yes.
Q: Offer customizable forms and document upload capability?
A: Yes. Fees are additional for custom forms and vary by length and complexity.
Q: Message/ticket system for question exchange?
A: Yes, through secured messaging.
Q: Offer legal consent forms with e-signature capability?
A: Not currently.
Q: Offer live video, text, email or fax functions?
A: Live video, text and email functions are available.
Q: Can patients self-pay online via credit card in their patient portal?
A: Yes.
Q: If so, which merchant processor do you use, and what are their fees?
A: Authorize.net, contact them for fees.
Q: Are the patients provided with an invoice with CPT codes?
A: Yes.
Q: Can I export my invoices into Quicken?
A: Not currently.
System:
Q: Is it cloud based and mobile-responsive?
A: Currently scheduled for release by the end of June 2014.
Q: What format is used to export patient information into another system?
A: We can support either CCRs or CCD/CDAs.
Q: How often is my information backed up/How many servers do you have?
A: Our servers are hosted through a third party, Servint.
Q: What support will I have/extra fees?
A: Under the Saas pricing, support and maintenance is included in the monthly fees.
Pricing:
Q: What is your monthly fee?
A: $250/mo (up to 500 pts). $400/mo (up to 1,000 pts). $1,300/mo (up to 5,000 pts). Other pricing models are available, see our website.
Q: What is your initial setup/implementation fee?
A: Setup fee starts at $1,250 for a single practitioner.
Q: Do you require a contract/how long?
A: None. It is month-to-month.
Q: What is the cost of adding additional physicians at a later date?
A: See our website for pricing models.
Summary:
Q: Any features currently in development that will be added soon?
A: Responsive design and selectable types of patient alerts.
Q: Are there any other important features of your system that I haven’t asked about?
A: We have experience with multiple EMR interfaces and have developed an API with X-Link to provide additional interfaces.