Barrett Schmidt, OD
Walmart Vision Center Eye Doctor

At one point in time, every medical practitioner has thought about transitioning into a paperless office. The concept is both exciting and scary at the same time, and deep down, we all know that it is the standard which is yet to come. So a year ago I began researching practice management software which would allow me to create my ideal paperless office.

For over 20 years, I have always been a fan of Macs. They're easy to use, the aesthetics are pleasing, and like everyone who has owned a Mac knows...they just work. This is even exponentially true since the incarnation of Mac OS X. To be true to my feelings, I made sure I also looked for practice management software native to the Mac platform as well as for PC. There was numerous software available on both platforms, but one blatantly appeared significantly ahead of the rest, it was MacPractice 20/20. It was a full-featured package, incorporating advanced scheduling, eClaim abilities, electronic medical records, Rx prescribing, along with ability to easily add attachments such as images, scans, and other entities such as previous patient records. I signed up for a demonstration of the software and was blown away! There was no other single piece of software available that could match the ease and use of MacPractice 20/20. Not only did the software do what I wanted it to do, it uses standard Apple protocol and thinking of how things should be done, making the software that much easier and enjoyable to use.

So the purchase was made nearly 8 months ago and I haven't looked back since. To my fortune, my good friend Dr. Roger Klassen and I made the plunge together and constantly have conversations about how wonderful and intuitive MacPractice 20/20 is and how it has impacted our practices. While we are both optometrists, we vary in how we operate our offices, and MacPractice 20/20 allows us to tailor our software needs individually, which is very liberating as most software forces you to work how it wants you to work.

Another compelling reason to incorporate MacPractice 20/20 into an office is the effective way the software allows the user to perform eClaims. Every practice wants to get paid, but most software make the process very pain-staking and difficult. This is quite the contrary in MacPractice 20/20. After a simple run through with a MacPractice personal eClaims educator, I was able to send claim after claim without a hitch, and if I do something incorrectly, the software simply tells me what I need to fix. Genius.

Since integrating MacPractice 20/20 into my optometric practice, it has allowed me to place my focus on medical billing, while at the same time adding new insurances to my portfolio. With these changes implemented, it was necessary for me to hire someone to manage it all. To my delight I was able to hire Misty Boettcher, an exemplary optical manger/optometric technician to run the show. To her delight and mine, she was able to almost instantly understand the mindset of how MacPractice 20/20 functions. She was a new Mac user and quickly realized that a Mac performs the way a person thinks, instead of the user trying to figure how the software wants it to think. She constantly expresses to me how logical the billing and eClaims methods are, and has thanked me for providing her this specific software to use, as she understands that it is not the norm.

All of this which I have stated is simply the tip of the iceberg as far as the power of MacPractice 20/20. While I feel I have a great grasp of its capabilities, it constantly surprises me of how much more it can actually do. Also, the fact that the software is consistently evolving and ever expanding it's already vast array of capabilities is exciting. It was simply the best investment I have ever made in my practice in the past 10 years. The best part, it runs on a Mac...and it just works.