[Jamie Hagan]

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on Brighttree. I would greatly appreciate any input good or bad if you have Brighttree now.

Thanks,
Jamie

[DebiW]

We used Bright-tree for a while; it's quick easy and free. The one drawback I can think of is that if you do not have a piece of the patient's incorrect you will not be given the information. After a certain percentage of error you will be blocked for a couple of weeks. This was frustrating as the information we often receive is incorrect and we are not seeing the patient's cards when we are verifying insurance coverage.

[iharrison]

We got Brightree last year and so far it has worked fine for us. I do agree that everything has to be "just so" in the system or it won't cooperate with you. So sometimes that is time-consuming and gets on my nerves. We don't use it to track our inventory & that made it easier for me to use.

[HEATHER]

We had the same problem with Brighttree. I didn't like that they indicated
that basically Medicare was flagging our account because of the error rate -
it wasn't like we were just fishing for information and I didn't like the
tone of the "warning." I can just see them auditing more claims or
something based on this - so we quit using it. We do it the old-fashioned,
time consuming way - by phone. Still less time consuming than a trip back
to a patient's home to pick up equipment we won't see a dime on... Reg C
could get w/ the times and make their automated system more user friendly
like some other regions - but where's the fun in that?!

Heather

[Jamie Hagan]

I might not have been clear on this. What about the actual Billing Software not the look up software.
Thanks

[Leslie]

We think it is great. We can transmit, fax, or anything else you could ever need. We like B.T. The support team is fast and helpful. You can reach them by phone or e-mail.

[Jimkacuserve]

There are 3 Major issues to consider when choosing Brightree:

1. Long Term Cost. Although it is relatively inexpensive to get started, the cost needs to be considered long term. So in year 3 you could be paying a few Hundred dollars monthly for just maintenance and support, you will still be paying Thousands with Brightree.

2. Data Access. Because you do not have the option to host Brightree on your own servers, you are limited to type of access you can obtain to your data. The custom exports are limited and the ability to tie in other software applications is not possible. In addition, if you ever decide to convert you will have to continue to pay license fees of the software for as long a you need access to your patients historical data.

3. Use of 3rd Parties. Brightree has made the decision to only allow Brightree customers to use certain Outsourcing providers. They now own their own Billing Service, which you can logically see where they would like you to do business. Their license agreement allows them the ability to deny third party access to anyone that is not an employee of their customer. This is a common clause in nearly every Software vendor's contract, but is rarely, if ever, enforced by any Software company. Therefore, they are dictating with whom you can and can't do business with. So even if you may not need a billing service currently, are you comfortable with a Software Vendor limiting your business choices?


The best software choice is to have the option to buy the software or pay for it monthly along with having the option to have the software company host the application. For those companies who do not want to maintain servers, this satisfies that need and allows the option to purchase or bring in-house the application at any time.

[Boyce]

BT is a Web based billing software that we have been using for 2 years. It is great. I disagree that having a software program sitting on a File Server that is maintained by IT staff or a contract IT guy is better.

No worry with BU's, or batch billing or file server down time.

BT could be placed in the world or "Cloud Computing" rather than systems that are maintained at your office.

BT allowed us to becone a "Virtual DME" we only have 3 warehouses in Dallas/Fort Worth and Lubbock, Texas, however we have customer service reps in Pennsylvania, Texas and California and Billers in Texas, Mississippi and Tennessee, all working from home.

Remember you heard "Virtual DME" from Breath of Life Boyce!

[DeeDee]

What other Software programs have you looked at?

We recently changed software - we chose to use Fastrack over Brightree and switched from TeamDME.

There is nothing I can say negatively about TeamDME other than I felt like I couldn't get some of the reports that I wanted (such as a detailed patient AR history). Other than that, the only thing wrong with TeamDME by our outlook was the information entered into it. Remember, any software is only going to be as good as the information you enter to build your tables.

We decided we needed to make a change. We looked at 3 options - start fresh with TeamDME (which we owned), outsource our billing or switch software.

We opted to switch software and felt that Fastrack gave us the most versatility for what we wanted to do with the system. If money is a factor and I imagine it is, Fastrack also offers web hosting which can easily be converted later to your own server and you do not lose any of your data.

[wanna]

Dee Dee,
Why did you choose Fastrack over Brightree? I am curious.....
As a consultant I try to look at all areas and like to get feedback when possible in case I over look something.
Thx