Some people may say that Nookal is a seasoned professional in the world of practice management software. But do a comparison with the new kid on the block, Carepatron 🥰, and you'll see they have some pretty tough competition.
For you as a practitioner, this can only mean one thing...confusion.
Why?
Well, which practice management system should you use?
This battle seems intense, but there's a pretty clear winner when you break it down...you'll see.
In this article, we'll go over Nookal's features and give you a bit of an introduction to its top competitors.
- Carepatron
- Simple Practice
- Power Diary
- Cliniko
- Halaxy
First, let's take a look at Nookal. 👀
They're a web-based practice management system from Australia aimed at the allied health community and offer a few different functionalities. These include;
- Appointment Management
- Billing & Invoicing
- Claims Management
- EMR/EHR
- Inventory Management
- Records Management
- Online Bookings
And all that seems great, right?
Nookal's alternatives offer better deals for healthcare workers such as physiotherapists, podiatrists, massage therapists, and chiropractors when it comes to practice management solutions.
As a healthcare practitioner, you'll already know what HIPAA compliance is and how important it is that any SaaS software you use needs to have this accreditation to ensure you are not inadvertently breaking any privacy or confidentiality laws.
Nookal isn't HIPAA-compliant. That's our primary concern here.
Despite every other drawback Nookal might have, this is the most concerning one. We would recommend using any other alternative to use for your medical practice management software that is HIPAA compliant.
Second to this is Nookal.com's pricing, at $55 per month, especially for small practices. Unlike most of their competitors, they don't offer a free version or day trial either.
Nookal's ability to streamline mental health workflow is limited. Its integrations with external providers such as Mailchimp, Xero, and other software solutions are very basic. Nookal's ability to navigate these challenges is seriously limited.
Top 5 Nookal Alternatives
So this is what you're here for, our top Nookal Alternatives.
Carepatron
After a look at all the alternatives, Carepatron is the best practice management solution.
It was co-designed with practitioners for practitioners, so we know it will have a good patient portal, medical billing, and templates.
Carepatron key features
Here are our top reasons why Carepatron is the best Nookal alternative:
1. Voice-to-text transcription
Carepatron enables practitioners to transfer voice to text in an instant. This means that as a practitioner, you won't need to spend time painstakingly typing out client notes or demographics for electronic health records.
2. Telehealth for no additional cost
Carepatron offers secure telehealth services so practitioners can communicate with their clients for no additional cost. So you won't have to worry about any hidden add-on charges.
3. Scheduling and Workflow manager
Many practice management platforms have essential scheduling tools, but Carepatron offers a complete end-to-end workflow tool that makes everything about being a healthcare practitioner easier.
Here are some of Carepatron's powerful workflow tools:
Team meeting: Carepatron offers the ability to organize all of your appointments in one place. Whether it's with your team or other professionals, you can do it all in one place.
Auto reminders: Carepatron has a powerful built-in reminder service that removes the risk of DNA and stress from your day.
Client appointments: Help yourself and your clients remember important appointments.
Tasks: They can help you assign and manage the never-ending to-do list.
Reminder: The ability to set reminders for you and the people you want to meet.
4. Client relationships
Carepatron allows practitioners to view and manage everything online on their profiles. This means you can have an easy way to link your clients with their care team.
Go ahead, sign up for free with Carepatron. 🎉
Some other incredible Carepatron pros
- Extensive free version available
- Intuitive, user-friendly interface
- AI-powered voice to text transcription
- Unlimited 24/7 support
- Note and clinical report software
- Client relationship capability
Carepatron Pricing
Carepatron has a robust free plan for unlimited users with paid versions at just $12 per user/month.
![Practice management software](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6572fdb617211ce3d9d76878/66bb4edb3780ed194631f854_6572fdb717211ce3d9d7b981_Less%2520time%2520%253D%2520more%2520time%2520with%2520your%2520clients.png)
SimplePractice
Simplepractice is one of the better-known care management platforms that states it can provide a wide range of tools to improve medicare, online bookings, invoicing, billing and referrals. It's not at the top of our list, here's why:
- Templates are pretty bad 🙈
We know that templates are the best way to get back the extra time you need and mean that you can create comprehensive but concise practice notes, Simple Practice doesn't have them and we don't understand why.
- Inadequate Progress Note Capabilities
Limited progress note and psychotherapy record functionality, which is less than ideal when practitioners are required to keep detailed records of every client interaction
- Customer Service
Social media and online reviews give an insight into a dark picture for Simple Practice. They're hard to reach and lack the sense of urgency you'd hope to find in the CRM of any healthcare platform.
Pricing
Simplepractice has two plans, both on a monthly transcription(listed below) and the telehealth video functionality is $10 per month per practitioner.
- The essential plan is $39 monthly
- The professional plan is $59 per month
PowerDiary
PowerDiary is an online platform that provides calendar management for practitioners. This includes automated appointment notifications, invoicing, and SMS-based chat.
Cons of PowerDiary:
No healthcare-specific billing or credit card capability
When it comes to billing as a healthcare practitioner, we can run into a bit of trouble. That's why it's better to have billing that's designed by us, for us. Carepatron offers this; PowerDiary doesn't.
No mobile app
Being on the move as a healthcare practitioner is standard practice in 2021. We know that's punny, but it's also true. Power Diary doesn't offer an app, and that's not a good thing if you need to access anything from your phone.
It's hard to use
We sign up for Saas platforms to make our life easier, not more difficult. Power Diary is not intuitive; you'll need the training to use it. Best to choose something that you can sign up for and start using that same day.
Cliniko
Cliniko provides healthcare workers with some tools to help manage daily tasks effectively. It contains helpful features, including documentation management, EHR, note-taking, and appointment scheduling, but before you sign up, check out these drawbacks:
Patient Portal
Patient portals are helpful for many reasons; intake forms, messaging, appointment reminders, contact details, and online payments, just to name a few. Any good practice management software should possess this tool. Cliniko doesn't; we would recommend going with one that does.
Which Mobile App?
Being mobile in 2021 is critical to your practice's functionality. You and your clients need to be able to access your practice management system. Whether it is from android, iPhone, or iPad, you need to access a user-friendly service for your patients.
During a lockdown, you need to provide telehealth and trust us, it's much easier to do from an app. Unfortunately, Cliniko can't offer this capability.
Pricing
For the majority of healthcare practitioners, when looking at software solutions, pricing is a significant factor in the role of decision-making. Unfortunately, Cliniko pricing, while being simple, is a lot. As a solo practitioner, you'll be looking at $49 per month, with the price increasing from there.
Halaxy
Halaxy has been lurking around for a while now with limited success, and we know why. We don't want to recommend them but feel that we wanted to share a quick summary for those who have them as a potential option for completeness.
Pros
- Limited free version
Cons
- Our main con, which makes us not want to recommend them as an alternative, is this - Since their date of release, there has been chatter around how they own and potentially resell the client data stored on their platform. Read their privacy statement and T&Cs carefully, do your own research and make your own decision.
- At times, the design is confusing and, at times, overly complex, just like their privacy and confidentiality statement. Need we say more??
So what...
After all this research, it's clear that Carepatron comes out on top, but don't take this article's word for it. Go out and try it for yourself.
The best thing you can do is try these websites for yourself and see which one suits your practice best!
Sign up for Carepatron for free today.
Interested in looking at some other comparisons? Check out the following links:
- Top 10 Alternatives to Simple Practice in 2022
- 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 My Clients Plus Alternatives (Features and Pricing)
- Best Halaxy Alternatives (Features and Pricing)