There are many decisions to be made when opening or running an Acupuncture or medical office. Having reliable scheduling software is very important to help you stay organized and keep patients aware of upcoming appointments. Choosing the right software to meet your needs is an important step in running a successful business.
Scheduling software can be a solid foundation within your business to keep you on time and help your patients remember upcoming appointments, but they can do much more that that as they can help the overall organization and success of your business.
These programs contain private personal information that needs to be protected, and can help overall organization and success of your business. Scheduling software programs tend to range in cost and can be quite the headache if the program needs to be changed over to a different platform, due to the quantity of information it stores, so it is best to do your research up front and pick the best option for your business.
Some programs can offer scheduling, electronic health records (EHR), and payment and/or booking. Some offices may choose to keep these separate. It is important to choose what best suits your needs. It is also very important to make sure your choice follows the current HIPPA compliance guidelines to protect yourself and your patients.
5 Best Online Scheduling Programs for Acupuncturists
- Square Up- This online booking program is a great scheduling software that is easy to use, and is the best free option out there. Mind you if you choose the free option you miss out on simple pleasures such as calendar syncing, automated text and email confirmations and use for a single location only. It utilizes Square for payment and the cost ranges from 2.6% + 10¢ per transaction for in person credit cards up to 3.5% +15¢ for manual keyed in. If multiple location or staff are needed the free option won’t work, but this is a perfect choice for someone in private practice that is just using it for keeping their schedule organized.
There are thee main tiers for pricing. The Free option $0 a month for a single location. The Plus option $29 a month for each location, and the Premium option for $69 a month per location.
- Simple Practice- HIPPA compliant online Scheduling software, that offers practice management, scheduling and billing. This is a great option if you are looking for a more comprehensive program that can keep everything on one place. They offer a platform for telehealth, scheduling, EHR, important documents and more. The starter package does not offer appointment reminder emails/texts, or the option for patients to confirm/cancel appointments online. The Starter and Essential package is unable to have more than one practitioner added.
There are 3 main tiers for pricing. The Starter package is $29 a month, Essential is $69 a month, and Plus is $99 a month, all offering a free 30 day trial.
- Acusimple- This program is an all-in-one practice management software, yet it does offer a scheduling only option as well. It has a full scheduling sector that can work for a private practice or one with multiple practitioners, EHR, Secure email communication between patient and practitioner, as well as claims and billing, and payment. It uses PaySimple and Square to accept payment for a fee.
There are 4 main tiers for pricing. Scheduling only option for $19.99 a month, Basic for $59.99 a month, Plus for $69.99 a month, and Premium for $79.99 a month. Each extra practitioner account is $29 a month.
- Fullslate- This scheduling software is not designed with the Acupuncturist only in mind, but is more versatile and is marketed toward a larger variety of businesses. It not only offers online scheduling, with multiple rooms and locations, but has the full range of email and text reminders, calendar syncing, accepting payment through Square and credit card processing. It also syncs with Quickbooks to help ease your accounting needs.
It runs $29.95 a month for one practitioner, $49.95 for up to 5 people, $79.95 for up to 10 people. There are options for more than 10 peoples schedules, but pricing needs to be inquired directly through the company.
- Mindbody– The Mindbody Suite is an integrative scheduling software that can be geared towards your Acupuncture practice ( they also have options that are more focused on businesses such as Spas, Salons, and Fitness studios). They offer scheduling, performance reviews, and payroll all within this one software, and seems more fitting to businesses that have multiple locations, rooms or practitioners. They offer wait list options if your schedule is full and you are able to set how early clients can book online before the start of service. They pride themselves upon their high level of customer service and 1-1 start up help and continuing care. The higher payment packages offer integrative emails, prompts for clients to post reviews, and automated email and text marketing.
They offer 4 tiers of pricing, Starter, Accelerator, Ultimate and Ultimate Plus. Pricing ranges from $129-$349 a month and prices are not listed upon website. They encourage an introduction call. Starter: Includes scheduling, point-of-sale, and reporting. Accelerate: Includes 2-way text notifications and customizable templates. Ultimate: Includes automated emails campaigns, customer feedback, and prompts for customer reviews. Ultimate Plus: Includes personalized branding and real time dashboards.
There are also a wide variety of other all-in-one practice management software such as Unified Practice and Jane that might be a better fit for your business. I go more in detail about these in another article- The Best EHR/ Charting Software for Acupuncturists.