Clinics and other businesses in the healthcare industry need to effectively manage their finances in order to remain profitable and sustainable. To do this, they need accurate cost tracking and financial reports, amongst other requirements.
If your business operates in the healthcare industry, you may quickly find that trying to manage its finances manually will quickly take up most of your time, and take away your business's focus on its core value proposition of providing its medical products and services.
Thus, a crucial factor to ensuring your healthcare business's success is to automate your financial management with the right accounting software. Such a solution should be able to generate customised financial reports that give you the insight you need into your finances, and offer features that streamline and optimise key financial processes such as billing, amongst others.
To help you choose the right accounting software, we’ve put together a list of accounting software that has proven popular with healthcare businesses like yours, along with the ratings on review sites such as Capterra and G2.
Accounting Software That Are Popular With Healthcare Businesses Today
1. QuickBooks Online
Introducing QuickBooks; Source: QuickBooks International
What Is It?
Known for its ease of use and accessibility, QuickBooks Online is also one of the best accounting software for reporting on the market today. Thanks to its web-based interface, businesses can access QuickBooks Online from any web browser, and manage their accounting whenever they want.
What Is It Best Known For?
Because it is a web-based accounting software, you can access QuickBooks Online from any web browser anywhere, at any time.
It also has a powerful mobile app which is available in both iOS and Android, and includes almost all of the functions that can be found in the desktop interface.
How Does It Review?
QuickBooks Online scores:
What Type Of Business Is It Suited For?
QuickBooks Online is one of the most popular accounting software for small businesses in many industries today, including the healthcare industry.
2. FreshBooks
All You Need To Know About FreshBooks; Source: FreshBooks
What Is It?
An online accounting and invoicing solution, FreshBooks is designed specifically for small businesses as well as self-employed freelancers. It is designed to simplify day-to-day business tasks, such as time tracking, expense management and invoicing.
What Is It Best Known For?
FreshBooks is designed to make invoicing and billing as simple as possible for the user. To that effect, it offers automated invoicing, online payment options, and late payment reminders.
It also offers seamless integration options to manage your appointment scheduling and payroll through the accounting software.
How Does It Review?
FreshBooks scores:
What Type Of Business Is It Suited For?
FreshBooks is best for sole proprietors and small businesses in the healthcare industry, such as dentists and general practitioners.
3. Xero
Why Use Xero; Source: Xero Accounting Software
What Is It?
Designed for small business owners and accountants, Xero is one of the most popular accounting software on the market. It is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution which can be accessed from any computer or mobile device.
What Is It Best Known For?
Like QuickBooks, Xero is a web-based solution which can be accessed from any computer or mobile device with an Internet connection.
Xero also integrates with more than 1,000 3rd-party applications, which makes it easily customisable for unique industry needs such as a healthcare business might have.
How Does It Review?
Xero scores:
What Type Of Business Is It Suited For?
Thanks to its high scalability, Xero makes an excellent option for both growing startups and sole proprietors in the healthcare sector.
4. Zoho Books
Overview of Zoho Books; Source: Zoho Books
What Is It?
A web-based accounting software that can be accessed from any web browser, Zoho Books offers a low-cost option that nevertheless allows businesses of all sizes to manage finances across their entire organisation.
What Is It Best Known For?
Zoho Books allows users to send up to 5,000 invoices to an unlimited number of clients across all of its plans, and is able to integrate with many top payment processing services.
Although it’s a powerful accounting solution in its own right, Zoho Books is also part of the larger Zoho suite of cloud business software, and can thus be fully integrated into an existing Zoho ecosystem.
How Does It Review?
Zoho Books scores:
What Type Of Business Is It Suited For?
Zoho Books is best suited for healthcare businesses that have implemented or are planning to implement the full Zoho cloud software suite.
5. Wave Accounting
Introducing Wave Dashboard; Source: Wave
What Is It?
A cloud-based integrated accounting solution, Wave is designed for the needs of small businesses, freelancers and consultants. Its features include accounting, invoicing, billing, payment tracking, and payroll management.
What Is It Best Known For?
Wave comes with a mobile receipt scanning app, which lets you review information on receipts scanned with the app prior to approval.
You can also forward any receipts your receive in your email inbox to a designated email address, and it will automatically show up in your Wave account for your review.
How Does It Review?
What Type Of Business Is It Suited For?
Small businesses, freelancers and solo proprietors in the healthcare industry.
When Accounting Software Isn’t Enough (And Where Cloud ERP Comes In)
However, for clinics that have grown beyond the scale of say, a single family GP clinic in the neighbourhood, a standard accounting software usually isn't sufficient to meet the challenges.
As a result, you may find that your business may begin to face specific challenges in its accounting processes, including the following:
Lack of Advanced Financial Management Features
Additionally, accounting software may lack the necessary features to handle the more complex financial management needs of healthcare businesses like yours, such as maintaining financial records, financial data analysis, and tracking cash flow analysis. These features are crucial for healthcare businesses to improve accuracy in their financial data, and make informed decisions.
Lack of Scalability
Moreover, traditional accounting software may not be scalable enough to handle the growing needs of healthcare businesses, especially if they expand to multiple locations or experience a significant increase in transactions.
Lack Of Security And Disaster Recovery
Healthcare businesses like yours have to be especially careful with the handling of confidential patient data, including their financial transaction records. While accounting software may have basic security measures in place, the vendors for such solutions usually don't have the resources to provide enhanced security features, or disaster recovery services in the worst case scenarios.
What Do Cloud ERP Software Offer That Accounting Software Doesn't?
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Cloud ERP like Oracle NetSuite ERP can integrates all your business functions into a single platform. Source: NetSuite
On the other hand, a cloud ERP software like Oracle - NetSuite ERP provides a comprehensive solution that addresses these challenges, and offers a wide range of features specifically tailored to the healthcare industry.
It provides robust financial and accounting capabilities and integrated budgeting and forecasting, can be easily scaled to any size of medical practice from private clinics to medical groups, and comes with strong data security and disaster recovery features to ensure the safety of your confidential patient data.
It can also be easily integrated with other software solutions your healthcare business is using. For example, here's a quote from Singapore O&G, one of our clients in the healthcare industry;
"AFON integrated Oracle NetSuite with our existing clinical management system, giving us real-time access to critical financial data.
Oracle NetSuite also automated our financial management, greatly improving the productivity of our organisation."Doreen Chew, Chief Financial Officer of Singapore O&G
Recognised as a Leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud ERP for Service-Centric Enterprises, NetSuite comes with powerful capabilities that can handle all of the above industry challenges that healthcare businesses face, and more.
Enable Future Growth For Your Healthcare Business; Upgrade From Your Accounting Software To A Cloud ERP Software Today
Introducing NetSuite; Source: NetSuite
A true cloud ERP software like Oracle NetSuite is the ideal choice for such an upgrade. The cloud-based nature of NetSuite means it can easily be scaled to provide as much financial management capacity as your healthcare business needs, even if it's a medical group with clinics all across Singapore.
Interested in learning how else a true cloud ERP software can support your healthcare business better than a mere accounting software? Click on the image below to download our resource, and find out why businesses are moving away from basic accounting software like QuickBooks to cloud ERP software like Oracle NetSuite.
