Therapy Notes
Ratings: Features - 3.5 GUI/UX - 4.5 Work Flow – 4.5 Learning Curve - 4.5 Support - 5
Features: Groups - Y Scheduling - Y Notes - Y E-Filing - Y Billing - Y Client Portal - N
Price: $59.95/mo ($30 for additional clinicians) (Some additional fees for claims filing, and appointment reminders via SMS or Phone)
Pros: Attractive User-Friendly Interface, Solid Support, Great Work Flow
Cons: No Client Portal (planned for future), Fee for Electronic Claim Submission and no ERA integration
It's a Good Choice For Practices That: Place great importance on a well-designed, friendly interface, solid support and fast development cycle and don't mind waiting for features like a client portal and integrated ERAs.
Standout Features: Work Flow, Feature Integration, Support &, Development
Most Recent Update: 11/18/2014
Therapy Notes is a solid contender for those willing to wait for a Client Portal and/or Integrated ERAs. And it seems they may need to wait an indetermined amount of time. Each year, TherapyNotes has indicated they intend to launch a Client Portal, yet, as we near the end of another year, there's no hint of one yet. TherapyNotes did relase their "beta" version of integrated ERAs earlier this year which basically amounts ot the ERAs being displayed within the program, leaving users to manually apply them to client accounts. Months later, they haven't taken that next crucial step. To be clear, TherapyNotes hasn't been sitting idle. Just about every month they release improvements and updates. However, with a client portal and integrated ERAs being two of the most requested features, I'm left wondering what the delay is.
What TherapyNotes does, it does incredibly well and in style. It has one of the most polished, user-friendly GUI/UX of any of the platforms and provides incredible time savings through it's smart, intuitive, flexible work flow. Virtually all functions for a session (Notes, Billing, Changes, Claim Filing, etc.) can be accessed directly from the Appointment itself as well as from the Client area. It's integrated treatment plan and progress notes are a dream come true for those who want to be able to quickly complete their notes. Making copious use of time-saving drop downs and check boxes, notes are a breeze. This comes at the expense of not being able to customize the notes. However, if a modified SOAP style note works for a practice, TherapyNotes will likely fit the bill. Among the features added to TherapyNotes over the past year are integrated credit cards and the initial stages of ERA integration.
Unfortunately, there are some considerable drawbacks to TherapyNotes. As mentioned, there is no ability to customize progress note templates. While many templates are provided, users are unable to adjust them in any way. This serves well to create a very clean and efficient process. It's important, however, that you make sure the notes meet all of your needs since you won't be able to change their format. Additionally, your note data is somewhat locked into the system. There is currently no way to export your Notes in any format that would be usable by another system. Your sole option for backup/migration is to save them as PDFs. In some ways, this is not a major concern since the likelihood of being able to move notes data between any of these systems is slim, they all use a different proprietary format. If you do, for some reason, need your notes exported in some format besides PDF, however, you won't have that option with TherapyNotes. Oddly, despite their attention to detail, there are some minor features that continue to be ignored by TherapyNotes. For example, while it allows for tracking insurance authorizations, users must check usage manually. There are no alerts or reports associated with authorizations so that you can readily attend to clients who require more authorizations. Similarly, there are no alerts associated with claims being rejected by the clearinghouse. Seeing this requires a regular visit to the claims page. These are oversights that can be overcome with planning and habit, however, the program would shine so much more if it automatically alerted clinicians to situations like these. Finally, unlike most of their competitors, TherapyNotes charges a per transaction fee on electronic claims submission. It's a small fee (19 cents at this writing), but that can add up quickly if your practice files a large number of claims each month.
Group practices that want their clinicians to enter some billing information (like co-pays) may have concerns with TherapyNotes' permission structure. Currently, when a person is given billing permissions, they have access to all of the billing/financial data. While it may be efficient to have clinicians entering payments made by clients, many practices will not want them to also be able to see the billing status of other clients or the practice as a whole.
Despite these significant concerns, TherapyNotes is a top contender for many practices based on their solid, user-friendly implementation, fast development cycle and responsive support. If they can manage to implement integrated ERAs and a Client Portal in the near future, as well as clean up some of the finer details, they will be a tough option to beat for many users.
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Rob Reinhardt, LPCS
Rob is a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice and
owner of Tame Your Practice, which provides comprehensive
consulting to mental health and wellness professionals.
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