EMR Review: Cerner Ambulatory | Editor’s Choice
By Dr. Terra Caudill
Updated: May 2014
Summary Review:
Company: Cerner Ambulatory
Pros:
• Well-established company
• Mobile compatible without App
• Online patient self-pay
• Good customer service
Cons:
• Very high setup fee
• Hidden pricing
• Contract required (5 year)
• No free trial
• Require live demo
• No practice branding
• Your website must use their name
Price: $599/mo (if you do not accept insurance)
Setup Fee: $6,000
Website: Cerner.com
Editor’s Questions:
General:
Q: Do you cater to cash-only physician practices?
A: Yes.
Electronic Medical Record (EMR)/Patient Portal:
Q: Include e-prescribing and labs? If so, which vendors do you use/extra fees?
A: e-Prescribing is included in the EMR subscription. Typically, labs always pick-up the cost for any interface with Cerner.
Q: Work with Dragon/other speech recognition software?
A: Yes, and Dragon is also built into our iPad App found on the Apple App Store.
Q: Can the patient request appointment times from my calendar?
A: Yes, through Direct Book functionality within the Patient Portal. The Patient Portal is included in the EMR subscription.
Q: Offer Waiting List function?
A: Yes.
Q: Offer appointment reminders via email/text?
A: Yes, additional fees apply.
Q: Can the patient enter their own allergies and current medications?
A: Not at this time.
Q: Offer customizable forms and document upload capability?
A: Not at this time.
Q: Message/ticket system for question exchange?
A: All exchanges from the patient portal can be tracked.
Q: Offer legal consent forms with e-signature capability?
A: Coming soon.
Q: Offer live video, text, email or fax functions?
A: E-mail and fax only.
Practice Management (PM):
Q: Can patients self-pay online via credit card in their patient portal?
A: Yes, additional fees apply.
Q: If so, which merchant processor do you use, and what are their fees?
A: Apex, this would depend on the scope.
Q: Can I export my invoices into Quicken?
A: You can export into Excel.
System:
Q: Is it cloud based and mobile-responsive?
A: Yes. We have been best in it’s class for remote hosting for over 5 years.
Q: How often is my information backed up/How many servers do you have?
A: Information is backed-up as it is entered into the solution (real-time). We have a 3 data centers all owned and operated by Cerner, we do not outsource to a third-party.
Q: What support will I have/extra fees?
A: 24x7x365 Support, US-based out of Kansas City, MO.
Pricing:
Q: What is your monthly fee?
A: $699/mo. Reduced to $599/mo if you do not need to use a clearinghouse for insurance purposes.
Q: What is your initial setup/implementation fee?
A: It would depend on the scope, but typically $6,000 includes the EHR and PM setup, build, training, and includes on-site consultants for both the EHR and PM implementations.
Q: Do you require a contract/how long?
A: 5-year contract.
Q: What is the cost of adding additional physicians at a later date?
A: Double the monthly rate.
Summary:
Q: Any features currently in development that will be added soon?
A: Our solutions are constantly being updated to the latest and greatest functionality. The upgrades are provided as part of the subscription so you are constantly being provided with increased functionality. These upgrades are completed by Cerner behind the scenes so you will not need to worry about making these upgrades on your own.
Q: Are there any other important features of your system that I haven’t asked about?
A: There are a lot of other EMR companies out there, however the industry is changing and more and more EMR companies are being bought and acquired. I say that because I have seen other providers go with an less expensive niche vendor tailored to their specialty. Only to pay for the costs of switching to a new system again 2-3 years later after realizing it couldn’t provide the adequate level of support or new development needed to support them for the long-term. I feel an EMR decision needs to be one you do not make twice, because of the time and resource investment on your end. I would encourage you to seek out any vendors if you feel the quality of their EMR is high and you trust that they will be able to support you for the long term. But understand all the costs involved to change vendors downstream.