Summary

Pros:   Price, Feature Rich, Integrated Clearinghouse

Cons:  Fragmented Interface, Limited Notes

It Might Be A Good Choice For Practices That: Have price as a primary concern and not concerned with the learning curve.

Standout Features: Integrated clearinghouse, Price

Review

Many of the features one might want in a Practice Management System are present in the free version of the OfficeAlly product (Practice Mate). The pieces that aren’t there can be found in Patient Ally (Client Portal) and EHR 24/7 (More refined EHR features). 

Practice Mate is very focused on the billing/clearinghouse side of the practice. It does allow you to collect client demographic data as well as track sessions and complete rudimentary session notes (a single text field). The interface could use some refinement, but is pretty good for something that is free, especially since it includes unlimited electronic claims filing.
The Client Portal is problematic. Because Patient Ally is a separate product, there is a multi-step process to activate a new client’s account. I believe that many clients would find the process tedious and even difficult to understand. Once they are set up, there is some nice functionality, however the interface is not particularly friendly.

I’ve taken several opportunities to and take another look at this application.  Unfortunately, the quick conclusion I always come to is “convoluted and medical centric”.  I suppose at this price point, it will be attractive to some.  Unfortunately, until Office Ally comes up with a way to integrate their applications and improve the interface, there is just too much time and cost savings to be had by using a different application.  Further, with their recent increase in clearinghouse rates, it may no longer hold the attraction of being affordable.