Finding the Best Ophthalmology Software For Any Practice

Finding the Best Ophthalmology Software for Any Practice

Modern eye care practice managers have access to an enormous range of digital solutions intended to make their work easier. Properly implemented, ophthalmology software can dramatically increase the efficiency of clinical procedures and everyday office tasks. However, a program that’s a poor match for your practice may have the opposite effect, forcing your staff to waste precious time working around its limitations.

How can you identify the best ophthalmology software for your practice? There are hundreds of products to choose from, each one requiring some degree of customization to function properly. We asked Laurie Brown, a senior consultant at VMG Health, how she advises clients who are navigating this process. Here’s our guide to selecting the right software for your clinic, based on Laurie’s 30+ years of experience helping ophthalmic practices improve their efficiency.

How to Choose the Best Software for Your Ophthalmology Practice

What are the best practices that successful eye care professionals use when searching for software? The first step is to take a thorough inventory of the programs you’re currently running. You may discover that, for example, your existing electronic health record (EHR) or practice management system already has the functionality you need, hidden behind a button you’ve never clicked.

If you’re certain you need to upgrade, the next step is gathering recommendations. We’ve listed a few of today’s best ophthalmology software solutions below, but you should also ask your colleagues for their thoughts about any relevant programs they’ve used. That can mean talking with doctors and practice managers you know personally, as well as asking questions in the listserv groups for professional organizations like the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA) or the American Academy of Ophthalmic Executives (AAOE).

Prepare a list of must-have capabilities, then ask sales representatives for detailed explanations of how to carry out these critical functions within their program. You can even ask your representative for screenshots that show exactly how their system suits your workflow. You should also try to involve trusted staff members in meetings and demos. Since they’re the people who will have the most day-to-day interaction with your chosen product, their perspectives are priceless.

Another easy way to get the most out of your ophthalmology software is by automating time-consuming tasks. revBot by Revival Health can take over repetitive work like discovering benefits, filing claims, and reconciling payments improving performance while freeing up staff brainpower for more complex duties. Visit our product overview page to learn more.

Key Requirements for Ophthalmology Software

Aside from a simple list of desired features, what criteria should you use to evaluate a software product? Different practice managers may have different ideas about what’s most important, but any product you choose should check the following boxes:

• Customizability. Pick software that makes it easy to fine-tune things like the templates you use for patient charting, enabling you to ensure regulatory compliance and improve efficiency.
• Ophthalmology-specific capabilities. Eye care comes with some specific demands that not all programs can meet. For example, don’t choose an EHR system that can’t integrate with your diagnostic equipment and store detailed, editable DICOM images.
• Ease of use. Most new software will require at least some training to use, but it’s best to find a program with a user interface that you and your staff and patients find intuitive.
• Efficiency. Take note of how many clicks it takes to complete everyday tasks like charting after an eye exam or submitting a prescription.
• Reporting tools. A good system should give you detailed insights on relevant key performance indicators that are important to your business.

Remember that the implementation process can often make the difference between a streamlined, efficient tool and a clunky mess. Complex software suites — like practice management (PM) and EHR systems — almost always require a considerable amount of setup and tweaking during onboarding to ensure they’re configured properly for your office. Be prepared to ask some probing questions about how the company handles challenges like data migration, staff training, integration with existing systems, and requests for unplanned modifications. Make sure you also know what support options you’ll have once everything is up and running.

The Best EHR and Practice Management Software for Ophthalmology

For ophthalmology practices transitioning from paper to digital records, a comprehensive electronic health record and practice management (EHR/PM) system may be the right choice. These programs provide a unified platform for every aspect of your practice, such as:  

• Contacting, scheduling, and checking-in patients
• Creating and maintaining medical records
• Collecting reimbursement from patients and coverage providers
• Performance and financial analytics

A unified EHR/PM lets you handle all of these tasks from a single login, avoiding the inevitable headaches of porting data between different programs. Here, in no particular order, are the top contenders in 2025.

Nextech

Nextech is among the most widely used practice management solutions in eye care. Their Practice+ system offers a laundry list of features, including billing, revenue cycle management, automated scheduling, and many more. The patient portal gets particularly good reviews on its ease of use, which can be extremely helpful when you’re trying to get your clientele accustomed to a new system. Nextech also has a reputation for consistently soliciting feedback from customers and making regular updates in response.

The integrated EHR system, IntelleChart Pro, aims to keep the entire patient charting process on one screen using an array of drop-down menus and customizable templates that can pre-populate standard fields. Many reviewers have praised Nextech’s image management capabilities, which include layered drawings that can be modified without erasing information from past visits.

When configured correctly, Nextech can help reduce unnecessary cycling between windows (one of the most common complaints about EHRs). However, you might need to spend a fair amount of time tweaking templates and settings to configure it properly. There are also reports that Nextech’s frequent upgrades are sometimes accompanied by glitches or service outages.

Modernizing Medicine

Often shortened to “ModMed,” this unified EHR and PM system is another popular system. Their practice management software offers a similar range of capabilities, from scheduling and checking in patients to assessing your practice’s finances. Many users are particularly impressed with the billing and financial analytics options, and ModMed’s training and support teams generally get good reviews from users.

Like Nextech, ModMed offers a tailor-made EHR for ophthalmology. However, while IntelleChart Pro seeks to recreate the feel of paper charting, ModMed is built for tablet devices with a more modern interface. The system also employs machine learning capabilities to offer prompts and suggestions based on your past input. Some users report that this creates a streamlined, intuitive experience, saying that the tablet-based system makes it easier to stay face-to-face with a patient while making notes in their chart.

On the other hand, certain customers say that ModMed has sacrificed a bit of customizability to achieve this seamless feel. Experienced staff members also sometimes find the automated prompts redundant. You also may have to pay extra for certain tools, such as payment processing and inventory management.

EyeMD

While ModMed and Nextech are the most popular choices for all-purpose ophthalmology software, EyeMD isn’t far behind. The core practice management system is comparable to ModMed or Nextech, with several useful functions including payment processing, insurance verification, and a built-in claims clearinghouse. EyeMD may also be less likely than some competitors to upcharge for the occasional upgrade.

EyeMD’s EHR software has a good reputation among many ophthalmologists for its flexibility and robust implementation support. However, some of the more advanced patient engagement tools are relatively new, and features like messaging, reminders, and data intake may still have some bugs that need to be worked out. Reviewers also sometimes describe the user interface as feeling a bit dated compared to the competition.

Standalone EHR Systems for Ophthalmology

The three brands listed above stand out for their flexibility and range of features, and they’re excellent choices if you want to keep all your digital tasks on the same platform. This unified approach avoids the inefficiency of transferring data between multiple programs. Your practice staff won’t have to worry about logging into several different programs or learning multiple workflow protocols, and information logged anywhere will be immediately available to the entire system.

On the other hand, moving all of your workflows to a single system can be a significant disruption for your practice. You’ll need to budget time and money for the switchover, including retraining, and it may be a while before your staff is proficient with the new system. If you’re happy with your existing practice management software but need more EHR functionality, there are a couple of standalone options to consider:

AdvancedMD: AdvancedMD’s EHR system features customizable info cards to give you a rapid summary of each patient’s data. The company also offers full-featured PM software for managing business needs.

RevolutionEHR: Designed for optometrists, this EHR may be a good choice if your practice has a significant optical component. However, you’ll need to double-check that it can integrate with all of your diagnostic equipment, as some users have noted incompatibilities.

NextGen: NextGen is a time-tested EHR platform with a robust range of features, and it can provide significant efficiency gains if deployed correctly. That said, it isn’t easy for non-experts to adjust or customize, so you might need a dedicated IT professional on staff to oversee it.

Note that all of these EHRs offer some practice management capabilities as well. They can’t match the range and depth of functionality provided by the all-in-one suites we profiled above, but they could be more budget-friendly choices for offices with less specialized needs.

The Best Patient Engagement Software for Ophthalmology

Keeping in touch with your patients can be essential to achieving the best care outcomes. Dedicated software can make this considerably easier for your staff while reducing the risk of clerical errors and improving patient experience. Programs built for this purpose can offer functions like:

• Patient self-scheduling
• App-based or browser-based patient intake
• Waitlist management
• Automated reminders and follow-up messages
• Digital form signing
• Payment processing
• Referral management

We’ve listed some examples of the best ophthalmology software for patient engagement below. All of them can handle the tasks listed above while also offering a few unique benefits.

Promptly: Promptly is a straightforward, no-frills patient engagement solution that many practice managers find easy to navigate. Along with typical scheduling and messaging functions, Promptly can pull a patient’s insurance information to calculate their out-of-pocket cost and remaining deductible.

Weave: This program’s Call Pop feature automatically displays a patient’s information when they call, and its review management system helps you solicit and monitor online feedback. Weave also provides analytics for everything from the practice’s financial performance to patient sentiment as expressed in phone calls.

Clearwave: Clearwave bills itself as a “Patient Revenue Platform” intended to help manage growth and retention as well as customer interactions. Example features include SEO, reputation management, patient acquisition analytics, and automated marketing of premium services to eligible clientele.

Phreesia: Phreesia’s ophthalmology software includes a variety of ways to assess and support a patient’s healthcare self-management, such as automated surveys, checkup reminders, and prompts for preventive screenings.

Final Thoughts

The best ophthalmology software programs tend to offer similar core features, but the way they work in practice can be wildly different. Whenever you’re considering adopting a new solution, ask yourself whether it will actually be faster and more reliable than what you’re doing now. Make sure it can integrate with your existing systems, equipment, and workflows. And don’t forget to explore automation options like revBot, which can interface directly with EHR and PM software to take over some of the least human-friendly tasks.

If implemented correctly, ophthalmology software can be a force multiplier that lets your practice staff do more with their talents and training. We hope our advice helps you choose the platform that suits your office best.