5 Best NextGen Healthcare Alternatives 2024 (Features and Pricing)

Introduction

Practice management software is changing the game for healthcare businesses. With a range of different solutions available, these platforms are allowing practices to streamline their clinical and administrative processes, saving both money and time. 

The popularity of practice management systems has led to a boom in the market - and while this means there are plenty of options to choose from - it can make the selection process difficult. 

If you are currently working with NextGen Healthcare or thinking about implementing their platform, then you’ve come to the right place. Although NextGen has some definite benefits, there are a couple of drawbacks we think you’ll be interested in. 

And when you compare their platform with the other options available, I think it’s pretty clear they aren’t going to come out on top.

NextGen: An Overview

First thing’s first: let’s have a look at NextGen Healthcare. NextGen has developed a system that caters to a wide range of different healthcare fields, including behavioral health, physical therapy, optometry, neurology and dentistry.

With a focus on achieving better healthcare outcomes for all, NextGen have developed the following features within their solutions:

• Analytics
• Telehealth
• Clinical documentation
• Electronic Health Records (EHR)
• Appointment scheduling
• Patient portal
• Medical billing
• Revenue cycle management

These features aim to elevate the practice management processes within healthcare businesses. In addition to improving communication between providers, NextGen Healthcare helps to improve patient engagement, leading to a wider clientele and better clinical outcomes. NextGen is a HIPAA compliant web-based platform that is integrated with a mobile app, allowing practitioners to access their work remotely.

Looks good right? Well, while we don’t want to undermine the beneficial components of NextGen, we do think it’s important to consider some of their drawbacks.

Cap on monthly claims

NextGen has a cap on the number of claims that can be submitted each month. The cap is dependent on which pricing plan you choose, which may force you to purchase the more expensive options even if they are out of budget. Capping claims limits the growth of healthcare practices, which is never a good thing.

Pricing transparency

To find out the exact price of NextGen Healthcare, you have to get in touch with the vendor. Although this may mean their prices are flexible, it also makes comparisons with other available platforms difficult. When it comes to practice management software, pricing transparency is extremely important. We’ve done a little bit of research, and users of NextGen indicate that there are different pricing plans that vary between $299 - $549 per provider, per month. The cost of the platform also varies between physicians and nurses.

If you want an exact quote, we recommend getting in touch with the platform directly, and keep in mind that if you’re paying (at least) $299 for a practice management system, you’d want it to be pretty remarkable.

Other user complaints we found regarding the functionality of NextGen Healthcare include:

• The system is difficult to navigate and can be particularly overwhelming for those unused to healthcare technology.
• In order to get the most out of the platform, a lot of customization is required. While customizable features are important, it adds to the workload of physicians.
• Issues with the billing process.

It makes a bit of sense, then, why you may be looking for a NextGen Healthcare alternative. Fortunately, there are many suitable options that can not merely replace NextGen, but provide additional advantages for your workplace.

5 Best NextGen Alternatives

We’ve done some research on the best practice management systems currently in the market and identified the top 5 alternatives to NextGen, with information regarding pros, cons, features and pricing. 

Carepatron

Carepatron is an all-in-one practice management system that is integrated with a wide range of features, specifically designed to elevate the processes within your healthcare business. Carepatron was developed in correspondence with healthcare providers, ensuring that the features of the platform successfully target your needs. Some of the features offered by Carepatron include:

• Billing and coding features, helping you get reimbursed faster 
• Clinical documentation (and clinical note-taking, including customizable templates)
• Appointment scheduling, including the ability to share and manage tasks between team members, and automated appointment reminders 
• Unlimited 24/7 support 
• Online payments, including stripe payment and online credit card processing
• Telehealth
• Patient portal
• Health records 
• Client relationship capability

Carepatron’s platform is entirely HIPAA-compliant, ensuring that the privacy of your patients is taken very seriously. High-end encryption protects data stored online, allowing you to create, share and store clinical documentation via the system. 

Some of the benefits associated with using Carepatron include: 

Reduce no-shows with appointment reminders

Unfortunately, no-shows are an issue for every healthcare practice. Not only do they interrupt schedules and workflows, but they are a massive waste of resources and time. With Carepatron’s automated appointment reminders, healthcare practices can reduce their number of no-shows and save on money and time. 

Customizable reminder options can be sent out to clients prior to their upcoming appointments, encouraging them to be prepared for their session or reschedule if necessary. While it is difficult to completely eradicate no-shows, Carepatron’s reminder feature has been shown to reduce no-shows by up to 99%. 

Voice-to-text transcription 

Clinical documentation is the backbone of the healthcare industry. Writing effective and accurate notes ensures communication across healthcare teams, leading to informed decisions and better clinical outcomes. That being said, documentation is also hugely time-consuming and often the least favorite task for practitioners. 

With Carepatron’s voice-to-text transcription, the amount of time it takes to write documentation can be significantly reduced, without compromising on quality. After all, everyone can speak faster than they can write. 

Mobile app 

Remote working is fast becoming an intrinsic component of many professions, including healthcare. Carepatron’s sophisticated and easy-to-use mobile app ensures that practitioners can access important work remotely, helping to ensure communication is always a priority. 

Pricing 

With a mission to deliver robust practice management features at an affordable price, Carepatron offers different pricing plans:

• Starter: Free Plan
• Professional: $12 per user/month
• Organization: $19 per user/month 

What are you waiting for? Get started with Carepatron now 🎉

Kareo

Kareo is one of the biggest names in the game. The platform is integrated with a robust set of practice management features designed to streamline processes at your healthcare practice. These include, but are not limited to, appointment scheduling, medical billing, insurance reimbursements, patient engagement, telehealth and analytics. 

Kareo has been developed with various healthcare specialities in mind. The platform can be customized depending on what field of healthcare you work in, ensuring that all of your needs are met. 

Kareo pros

• As one of the most reputable platforms in the industry, Kareo is reliable. With a very large number of users, Kareo has developed a successful and efficient customer support system, ensuring that its users are satisfied with their services. 

• Kareo’s focus on large healthcare businesses means their features are very robust. 

Kareo cons

• Kareo is likely best suited for larger healthcare clients. While this isn’t a bad thing, sometimes start-ups and smaller practices are looking for more tailored solutions. 

• The robustness of Kareo’s software can make it hard to learn for new users. 

• Telehealth is only offered in the Pro Plan. 

Pricing

Kareo offers four different plans, depending on the needs of your business. These are Clinical Essentials, Billing Essentials, Plus and Pro. While you’ll need to get in touch directly with Kareo to find out the prices of these plans, users indicate they start from $125 USD per user per month. 

Practice Perfect

Practice Perfect has developed an all-in-one practice management solution and EMR that helps healthcare businesses streamline their administrative and clinical tasks. Features integrated into Practice Perfect’s platform include:

• Appointment scheduling and task management
• Clinical documentation
• Operational analytics
• Detailed patient profile that facilitates improved communication and informed clinical decisions.

Practice Perfect is additionally integrated with a number of different plugins, including e-prescriptions, patient self check-ins, client portals and cloud hosting. Each of these features can save a lot of time for healthcare providers, who can instead spend more time doing what they do best: treating their clients. 

Practice Perfect pros

• Practice Perfect offers training and support at no additional cost. This allows new users to quickly learn the system and ensures any issues are resolved efficiently. 
• Customizable options 
• Reasonably easy to navigate the system 

Practice Perfect cons

• Practice Perfect isn’t available on a mobile device and it can’t be downloaded onto a desktop. The platform is accessible using a web browser but this can limit the ability to conduct work remotely.
• Practice Perfect doesn’t have online payments integrated into their system. They do have a partnership with Global Payments Integrated, but this is an additional plugin.

Pricing

Practice Perfect costs $180 USD/month. This plan includes 4 users. Additional users each cost $15 USD/month and additional locations each cost $130 USD/month. 

Simple Practice 

Simple Practice is another popular practice management system that helps healthcare businesses streamline administrative processes. The platform has been around for a long time and played a central role in redefining the use of technology within the healthcare field. Some of the main features integrated in Simple Practice’s software include:

• Telehealth 
• A client portal 
• Scheduling
• Documentation
• Billing
• Mobile options 

Simple Practice is also HIPAA compliant, ensuring that both you and your patient’s privacy is protected at all times. 

Simple Practice pros

• Because Simple Practice has been around for so long, they have had time to develop their interface. The system is easy to navigate and use, regardless of the user’s technological experience.
• Simple Practice offers a range of customizable features, including online intake forms.
• Users report Simple Practice is particularly good for mental health practitioners. 

Simple Practice cons

• Although Simple Practice has been around for a while, there are still many reports about poor customer service. Users who have issues with the system struggle to get in touch with the platform, meaning problems remain unresolved.
• The technology is slightly outdated. 

Pricing

Simple Practice has three pricing plans:

• Starter: $29/month
• Essential: $69/month
• Plus: $99/month 

TheraNest 

TheraNest is the final alternative to NextGen that we recommend. The practice management system has been designed to assist with the administrative and clinical tasks of therapists and psychologists. Some of the features integrated into TheraNest’s system that elevates practice management include:

• Assisted billing
• Therapy notes
• Scheduling
• Client portal
• Telehealth
• Analytics
• E-prescriptions 

TheraNest helps therapists and psychologists to empower their clients and establish meaningful relationships without compromising on achieving good clinical outcomes. 

TheraNest pros

• TheraNest is entirely HIPAA compliant, ensuring that patient privacy is maintained at all times.
• TheraNest offers different packages depending on the needs of your healthcare business. This guarantees that the features you receive will benefit your practice, while also offering the opportunity for scalability. 

TheraNest cons 

• TheraNest doesn’t have online mental health treatment plan templates
• Users sometimes struggle to access adequate customer service 

Pricing 

• $39 monthly for under 30 clients
• $60 monthly for under 50 clients
• $91 monthly for under 80 clients

Final Thoughts 

Now we’ve covered some of the best NextGen Alternatives, hopefully you feel a bit more prepared to go out there and find the perfect practice management system for your business. 

We’ve got one more final tip for you to ensure you find the best option: double check the platform’s compliance strategies. Although vendors may describe themselves as HIPAA-compliant, you should have a look into the specific physical and technological safeguards that they have in place. Additionally, any vendor that handles your clinical documentation is required to enter into a BAA with you. This will guarantee both parties are kept informed and know their responsibilities for maintaining compliance. 

We hope you’ve learnt a couple of things about practice management systems and we wish you the best of luck in your search!

‍

If you’re interested in reading about some other systems, check out the following comparisons:

• Best Power Diary alternatives (features and pricing)
• Best Cliniko alternatives (features and pricing)
• Best Theranest alternatives (features and pricing)
• Best Counsol alternatives (features and pricing)
• Best Therapy Notes alternatives (features and pricing)
• Best Nookal alternatives (features and pricing)
• Best My Clients Plus alternatives (features and pricing)
• Best Halaxy alternatives (features and pricing)