Frodo had to trek for days and overcome obstacles to reach Mordor. Similarly, you must embark on a journey to find the perfect Linux medical billing software for your practice or company. That said, we want to make this software selection journey a breeze.

Compare Top Medical Billing Software Leaders

According to a report published by Market Research Future, the medical billing software market is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 12.10% from 2020–2030.

With more vendors entering the market, it becomes difficult to evaluate them. Our research analysts curated a list of some of the best billing products that could help you optimize your workflows and maximize profits.

In this article, we’ll be discussing:

• What Is Linux?
• Benefits of a Linux System
• The Most Popular Linux Medical Billing Systems
  • DrChrono
  • CureMD
  • Kareo Billing
  • CareCloud Central
  • eClinicalWorks

Without any further ado, let the quest begin!

What Is Linux?

Operating systems (OS) manage communication between your application and hardware. Think of it as your car engine. The engine can work on its own. But if it’s not connected to the axles, wheels and transmission, your car won’t function properly.

Linux is an operating system developed by Finnish software engineering students in 1991. Several large-scale companies use Linux for security and stability. Today, you can find it in your laptops, cars, refrigerators and televisions.

Just like a car’s manufactured using several components, Linux needs different elements to operate. They are as follows:

• Bootloader
• Kernel
• Graphical server
• Init systems
• Daemons
• Desktop environment
• Applications

Developers keep updating the Linux interface by adding new features, fixing bugs and improving security.

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Primary Benefits

Though Microsoft Windows is a popular operating system, several organizations depend on Linux to manage daily operations. According to Fortune Business Insights, the Linux market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 19.8% between 2022–2029.

Some of the benefits of using a Linux system are highlighted below.

• Gain Stability: Imagine the chaos it would cause if your desktop automatically shuts down mid-billing. The thought of re-creating the bill again would drown you in frustration. With Linux, you don’t have to worry as much about software glitches or lags.
• Improve Performance: Need to upload large data sets? The standard OS would make this task tedious. With Linux OS, you can upload files quickly.
• Increase Security: Data breaches are on the rise. And just one cyber attack can leech your finances. Because Linux has several distributions like Ubuntu, Debian and CentOS, it becomes difficult for hackers to plant viruses.
• Save on Costs: Linux is an open-source system. Because it’s released under GNU GPL (General Public License), it doesn’t cost you a fortune. You can refer to our medical billing price guide to uncover hidden costs.

If you are looking for an open-source and secure system, Linux is your best bet. Small businesses can use Linux billing products to avoid cost overshoots.

Best Linux Medical Billing Systems

A product that you can refer to as “my precious” is challenging to find. That’s why our dedicated researchers worked hard to generate a list of billing systems that could suffice your business needs.

Compare Top Medical Billing Software Leaders

We have listed the products’ summaries, benefits, features and limitations below.

DrChrono

DrChrono provides cloud-based solutions for practices and billing companies to help optimize their billing workflows. It offers revenue cycle, practice management, scheduling, EHR and reporting functionalities.

Denial analysis capabilities help you compare past and current claims to avoid repeating mistakes. They also enable you to generate graphs to help you better understand the root cause of denials.

Perform denial analysis with DrChrono.

The vendor offers a team of RCM experts to help you produce error-free statements, determine correct procedure codes, submit precise claims and resolve denials. The experts also assist you in improving your collection rate.

The platform is ONC-ATCB certified. It aids you in qualifying for government health care initiatives like MACRA. It also helps you stay compliant with several health care guidelines and ensures data security.

Top Benefits

• Optimize Workflows: Automation tools help you boost productivity and lower administrative burdens. Patients can complete registration processes using the kiosk mode. They can also sign in to their accounts to auto-populate information.
• Avoid Invoicing Errors: Billing modules assist you in avoiding data entry mistakes, improving coding accuracy and reducing claim denials. They also help you automate claim submissions and generate accurate statements.
• Submit Precise Claims: You can send claims to payers through clearinghouses like Change Healthcare, Waystar, Jopari, TriZetto and Carisk Partners. Furthermore, you can view claim statuses from the live claims feed.
• Deliver Quality Care: HIPAA-compliant communication functionalities help you share essential data with your patients. Encourage patients to complete consent and intake forms through internet-enabled devices or kiosks to optimize check-in processes and minimize paperwork.
• Deploy on the Cloud: Store unlimited documents in a secure cloud environment. The iPad app enables you to access data from remote locations.

Primary Features

• Coding: You can search for ICD-10 and CPT codes using the lookup tool. You can also create new custom procedure codes for services you cannot bill to insurance companies.
• Billing Profiles: Save common diagnoses and billing codes to reduce time spent on data entry processes. You can connect billing profiles to appointments to auto-assign standard billing codes for specific types of visits.
• Patient Statements: Generate bulk statements to save time. Add due dates to bills to ensure timely collections. View statements in the preview mode to detect and resolve errors. Enable clients to access invoices via the patient portal.
• Reporting: Produce productivity reports to assess employees’ performance. You can monitor financial metrics through the dashboard. Additionally, you can identify denial and payment trends and take measures to resolve issues.
• Claim and Denial Management: Submit error-free claims to health plan companies to maximize reimbursements. Partner with clearinghouses to detect coding, documentation or data entry mistakes. Produce denial analysis reports to avoid potential rejections. The vendor offers a team of RCM experts to help you handle denial processes and increase cash flow.

Limitations

• Users experience occasional outages.
• Poor customer service.
• Doesn’t offer integration with existing patient scheduling systems.

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CureMD

CureMD is a cloud-based solution that supports over 30 specialties and billing companies to help increase profitability and streamline workflows. It also provides a mobile app called Avalon to assist businesses in improving documentation.

The patient portal helps you eliminate communication barriers and enhance customer engagement. It enables patients to view clinical summaries, statements and lab results. The check-in kiosks help clients to complete registration processes quickly.

View patient notes with CureMD.

The vendor offers medical billing services to help you avoid denials and maximize returns. Whenever the billing team spots a new error, they add it to the rules engine to prevent mistakes from happening again.

CureMD is ONC and SureScripts certified. It follows DICOM, LOINC, ANSI, SNOMED and NCPDP standards to ensure a secure exchange of information between labs, payers, providers, devices and pharmacies.

Top Benefits

• Reduce Denials: You can scrub claims for errors before submitting them to insurance companies. The built-in coding database and code lookup tool help you assign the correct procedure codes. You can also partner with clearinghouses to identify mistakes before sending claims to payers.
• Improve Collections: You can track copays through the scheduler. Furthermore, you can view patient balances via the check-in screen to collect payments on time.
• Minimize Billing Mistakes: Payment posting, charge capture, claim scrubber and financial reporting modules help you maximize collections. You can use pre-built invoicing templates to generate precise bills. You can also add your company logo to invoices.
• Make Informed Decisions: Personalized dashboards assist you in tracking operational and financial metrics and developing strategic plans. You can produce and analyze reports to evaluate your company’s performance.
• Stay Secure: The system uses 256-bit SSL encryption to protect sensitive files from data breaches.

Primary Features

• Dashboard: Monitor key performance indicators such as copays, denials, revenue flow and AR days in real time. Track your billing team’s performance to ensure smooth business operations.
• Eligibility Verification: Automatically perform insurance eligibility checks prior to appointments to eliminate claim rejections. Gain real-time visibility into copays, coverage dates and insurance benefits to increase collections.
• Super Bill: Identify missing coding components to generate accurate statements. You can select from the recommended list of Evaluation and Management codes to save time. Perform documentation audits against claims to spot common mistakes.
• Analytics: Produce reports to evaluate your practice performance and develop strategies to improve the same. You can filter data to gain insights into your performance initiatives.
• Integrations: Encourages you to integrate with Luma Health to improve patient engagement. You can reduce no-shows and cancellations with automated reminders. The HIPAA-secure messaging portal enables you to exchange vital information with clients.

Limitations

• Users experience frequent crashes.
• Doesn’t provide robust charting functionality.
• Doesn’t offer an intuitive interface.

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Kareo Billing

Kareo Billing provides web-based solutions to help practices and billing organizations attain their business goals. It enables you to schedule and confirm televisits, produce faultless invoices, run audits, manage workflows, and increase cash flow.

Eligibility verification modules help you verify patients’ benefits coverage before appointments to determine financial responsibility and avoid rejections. You can partner with clearinghouses to spot claim errors before sending them to insurance companies.

View billing analytics with Kareo Billing.

You can monitor patient progress, upload documents, annotate on X-rays, post payments and send messages to clients using iOS devices. Enable patients to clear their dues through internet-enabled devices.

Advanced reporting capabilities assist you in evaluating the financial health of your company or practice. They give you insights into encounter, billing, refund and adjustment details. You can also generate a custom report according to your needs.

Top Benefits

• Boost Collections: Securely save patients’ credit card information to ensure timely payments. Automatically send payment reminders to patients via text or email.
• Increase Patient Engagement: Encourage patients to post online reviews to boost your reputation and increase brand awareness. Send birthday wishes to clients to show them that you care about them. Enable customers to book appointments via mobile devices.
• Stay Compliant: Comply with HIPAA and ICD standards to keep legal issues at bay. Store personal health records (PHR) on secure servers.
• Make Data-driven Decisions: Track trends and address inefficiencies using analytical frameworks. You can generate revenue reports to assess the financial performance of your practice or company.
• Ensure Cybersecurity: The platform uses TLS encryption and firewalls to secure its networks.

Primary Features

• Eligibility Check: You can verify insurance coverage prior to appointments to maximize collections. You can also inform patients of their financial responsibility to help them plan their expenses.
• Point-of-Sales Capabilities: Enable patients to make online payments via credit or debit cards or online wallets. The payment terminal adheres to Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards and provides data security with end-to-end encryption capabilities.
• Charge Capture: Enter new charges from the calendar view. The encounter review dashboard helps you set up fee schedules, track encounters and check codes. Claim scrubbing functionality assists you in detecting coding errors and complying with reimbursement rules.
• Patient Statements: Send automated payment reminders to clients to reduce A/R days. You can share electronic statements with patients via the patient portal. The vendor provides statement mailing services to help you avoid processing costs and accelerate collections.
• Billing Dashboard: Monitor key performance indicators, view patient records, store documents, track payments and print reports with just a few clicks. You can add to-do lists to tasks to stay organized.

Limitations

• Users can’t change their notification settings.
• Steep learning curve.
• Difficult to generate itemized statements.

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CareCloud Central

CareCloud Central offers an integrated suite of billing, practice management, revenue cycle and reporting functionalities. It helps medical practitioners establish a paperless workflow and simplify clinical processes.

Leverage the Meaningful Use certified EHR capabilities to make documentation a breeze. You can use pre-built customizable templates to eliminate data entry mistakes and save time. You can also access charts from remote locations via mobile devices.

CareCloud Central’s accounts receivable dashboard.

Send automated appointment reminders to patients to reduce no-shows and lower administrative burdens. You can share statements with clients with just a few clicks. Furthermore, you can track patient progress through the dashboard.

The vendor offers a billing team to help you optimize the revenue cycle and reduce invoicing errors. The team handles claim submissions, credentialing, payment posting, payer negotiations and authorizations on your behalf.

Top Benefits

• Streamline Workflows: Leverage automation tools to boost productivity and efficiency. You can book and confirm appointments using drag-and-drop scheduling capabilities. Use the mobile app to access patient information such as demographics, insurance details and balances.
• Boost Collections: Rework and send denied claims to insurance companies to maximize reimbursements. You can generate accurate superbills using charge capture.
• Maintain Regulatory Compliance: Assign correct CPT, HCPCS and ICD codes to stay compliant with health care guidelines.
• Improve Patient Experiences: Enable patients to complete registration processes and answer screening questions through Android and iOS devices. Customers can book televisits with just a click. They can also make payments through their preferred payment methods.
• Gain Interoperability: Collaborate with health care organizations using customizable tools and third-party integrations.

Primary Features

• Revenue Cycle Management: The provider helps you to stay compliant with MACRA and ICD standards. Verify patients’ insurance eligibility to maximize reimbursements. Produce precise statements to stay out of legal troubles.
• Telehealth: Patients can schedule appointments, make payments, access charts and request medications via the patient portal. The system complies with HIPAA, HITECH and FDCPA laws.
• Coding: Assign correct CPT, ICD and HCPCS codes to reduce denials. Auto-populate modifiers to speed up coding processes. Leverage the billing rules engine to receive workflow errors in real time.
• Claim Management: The claim scrubber helps you flag coding and documentation issues. Access the clinical knowledge base to understand Medicare and commercial payer edits and achieve a clean claims rate. Resolve denials and submit claims within assigned deadlines.
• Reporting: The command center helps you gain insights into your practice’s financial and operational metrics. You can filter data by location, provider and date. You can also produce clinical reports to enhance patient outcomes.

Limitations

• Users face navigation issues.
• Doesn’t provide robust charting capabilities.
• Difficult to modify or delete recurring appointments.

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eClinicalWorks

eClinicalWorks provides cloud-based solutions to help practices improve care delivery and streamline billing operations. It offers mobile accessibility and voice recognition technology to assist you in simplifying clinical procedures.

Revenue cycle management capabilities help you gain real-time visibility into your practice’s performance. You can create personalized dashboards to track metrics that matter to your business. You can also filter data by date, location and type.

eClinicalWorks’ ICD mapping functionality.

It supports financial, practice management, patient engagement and clinical integrations to eliminate data redundancy and maintain data integrity. It helps you operate your business through a single application.

It provides documentation and tutorials to assist you in fulfilling MACRA and MIPS requirements. It also helps practices meet Advanced Alternative Payment Models (AAPM) conditions.

Top Benefits

• Optimize Business Processes: Automation modules help employees boost productivity and focus on essential activities.
• Increase Revenue: You can monitor claim statuses in real time through the billing dashboard. You can also conduct a financial experience survey to identify and resolve consumers’ challenges and streamline payment processes.
• Deliver Quality Care: Enable staff to send automated appointment alerts using the eClinicalMessenger. Patients can schedule televisits through mobile devices. You can brand the patient portal with your company’s logo. You can also add a custom welcome message for first-time visitors.
• Achieve Interoperability: Collect patient benefits details from insurance companies and vitals from wearable devices with PRISMA. Exchange information with other health care providers within minutes.
• Deploy on the Cloud: Store information on a private cloud server. You can schedule automatic backups to prevent data loss. In case of outages, you can shift to eClinical Nimbus to avoid disrupting workflows.

Primary Features

• Coding: Analyze historical data to identify coding mistakes. Leverage the hierarchical condition category dashboard to monitor trends and compare past and current risk adjustment factor scores (RAF).
• Revenue Cycle Management: Track collections, refunds and claims using the RCM console. Allocate inventory and process claims within minutes. Receive alerts when claims are nearing deadlines. You can prioritize claims to submit them in a timely manner. Determine correct ICD codes using ICD code mapping capabilities.
• Patient Engagement: Enable patients to view lab results, book appointments and exchange messages with physicians through the patient portal. Encourage clients to download Healow apps to monitor their progress. You can educate your patients about their health care journey through educational videos, articles and infographics.
• Virtual Assistant: You can ask Eva (virtual assistant) to show patient progress, complete notes and check account receivables.
• Telehealth: Collect patient data before meetings to deliver quality care. You can schedule appointments through mobile devices. Furthermore, you can share your screen during virtual visits to help patients understand their health care journey.

Limitations

• Poor customer service.
• The system slows down while uploading multiple documents.
• Doesn’t offer robust scheduling functionality.

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Conclusion

Medical billing is not an easy task. It takes just one mistake for payers to deny your claims. Billing software can help you deal with these challenges. But the pain of searching for the ideal product is real!

Just like Frodo had Sam push him through difficult times, we’re here to help you select the perfect Linux medical billing software. You don’t have to go through this journey alone. We have your back!

You can use our comparison matrix to compare multiple vendors and generate scorecards. You can also access our medical billing requirements template to assess your needs and make informed decisions.

Don’t forget to read our medical billing buyer’s guide to gain insights into things to consider while selecting a billing software.

What Linux medical billing software do you use? Or are you thinking about switching your existing solution? Let us know in the comments below. We’re always happy to hear from you!