The 10 Best ERP Software Solutions for Healthcare

Healthcare organizations of different types run complex businesses with unique healthcare privacy (HIPAA), operations, accounts payable, insurance claims reimbursement, and billing needs that require strong healthcare ERP solutions. The healthcare industry includes organizations that provide patient care, health-tech solutions, or manufacture and distribute medical equipment. 

Top ERP systems and some accounting software with third-party integrations can meet the needs of these healthcare providers and companies to become viable ERP healthcare industry solutions. One third-party integrated healthcare industry solution is healthcare accounts payable automation. 

What is Healthcare ERP?

Healthcare ERP is software with HIPAA or other compliance used for enterprise resource planning to manage clinical, patient, device or supplies manufacturing, and business processes and data throughout the healthcare industry organization with a single unified database. 

How Custom ERP Helps Solve Unique Healthcare Challenges

The healthcare industry is facing increased cost pressures and many challenges impacting profitability levels. It requires a solution that provides visibility for patient care and helps achieve cost reductions and operational efficiency and visibility to the greatest extent possible. 

Custom ERP for healthcare is an industry-specific solution that manages the entire organization, considers the general ledger chart of accounts and billing and reporting needed for its segment of the healthcare industry, and manages or interfaces with HIPAA-compliant processes when needed to run a healthcare organization. 

HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, enacted by the Federal government in the United States in 1996 to require privacy for patient medical records and other health information. 

The right healthcare ERP can be customized to meet the specific needs of your type of healthcare business. It provides an integrated system that unifies healthcare systems (including EMR and EHR) with patient data access, added functionality modules, and third-party automation software. Healthcare industry ERP gives stakeholders visibility with role permissions and a common view of information. 

A healthcare industry ERP with seamless integration to third-party software eliminates the need for different systems as silos requiring duplicate data entry. You should seek real-time data, reporting, and data analytics that help you make informed decisions, access patient data, assess patient outcomes, understand healthcare organization results, make improvements to operational efficiency, and reduce operational costs. 

With a customized ERP that provides best-in-class capabilities, your healthcare organization should be able to determine how to lower costs, control spending, and perform supply chain management, medical supplies control, procurement, and inventory management with traceability when required. It provides valuable patient care aligned with the rewards system. 

An ERP system can also include modules for human resources and payroll to use for employee hiring, retention, benefits, and salary and wages compensation.

Insurance claims and patient billing should use an ERP or integrated healthcare system, providing accuracy and timeliness with integration of related software systems. This will reduce patient and employee stress and friction and result in the collection of valid receivables without making staff spend an inordinate amount of time responding to patient inquiries about billing errors.

The Best Healthcare ERP Software

The best healthcare ERP systems and accounting software include:

• Oracle NetSuite
• Sage Intacct
• QuickBooks Online 
• Microsoft Dynamics 365
• Acumatica
• SAP ERP
• Xero
• Odoo
• Certinia (formerly FinancialForce)
• Epicor 

Oracle NetSuite 

Overview

NetSuite, a midrange (in price and organization size) cloud ERP system owned by Oracle, offers a healthcare ERP solution targeted to the healthcare and life sciences industries. 

Features

NetSuite ERP in healthcare:

• Meets HIPAA compliance for patient data or customer privacy 
• Includes real-time dashboards with role permissions 
• Allows customization through configuration to fit your healthcare or life sciences organization’s needs
• Real-time reporting and analysis for decision-making and cost control
• Provides internal controls and audit trails
• Integrates with other healthcare systems and add-on software
• Integrates with NetSuite CRM for customer relationship management and enables providing better service, with a real-time 360-degree customer and partner view

Sage Intacct

Overview

Sage Intacct is cloud accounting software with an industry-specific healthcare & hospital accounting solution that has been peer-reviewed by the Financial Management Association and is endorsed by the AICPA. It can be used by healthcare facilities for managing healthcare operations and healthcare professionals in a medical practice that provides patient services. Sage Intacct also provides software for nonprofit healthcare organizations. The following features are provided through the core financial software and add-on modules. 

Features

• HIPAA compliance for patient information privacy powered by Advanced Audit Trail
• Real-time dashboards with KPIs, metrics, and graphics
• Dimensional general ledger, basic accounts receivable and accounts payable in core financials
• Customization 
• Revenue recognition
• Real-time financial reporting 
• Multi-currency, multi-entity financial consolidation with inter-entity eliminations
• Integrates with your patient management system, electronic health records (EHR), and other third-party software

QuickBooks Online 

Cloud-based QuickBooks Online accounting software can be configured for a healthcare organization, although it doesn’t offer a robust healthcare industry solution and isn’t HIPAA-compliant. QuickBooks recommends that individually-identified information not be entered into QBO. Therefore, it doesn’t provide a total solution to healthcare providers. QuickBooks also offers payroll software for healthcare organizations. 

For small healthcare organizations with up to 25 users (for QuickBooks Online Advanced), budget-friendly QuickBooks Online may be a limited back-office solution to consider, along with a HIPAA-compliant healthcare system. For example, besides accounting and financial reporting, QuickBooks Online helps organizations track inventory levels. QuickBooks offers some healthcare-related add-on apps in its App Store, including home healthcare apps, to expand the basic functionality of QuickBooks Online. 

Microsoft Dynamics 365

Overview

Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare is a unified healthcare system that combines Microsoft Dynamics 365 and other Microsoft products, including Power Platform, Microsoft 365, Azure (with AI), and Fabric (an analytics and data platform). Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare is a comprehensive ERP healthcare solution. 

Features

• Healthcare-related applications and template solutions built on Microsoft Dynamics 365
• Patient outreach tools for patient marketing automation, a patient service center with communication, and a patient portal for healthcare information with electronic healthcare record access 
• Virtual appointment scheduling with Azure Health Bot and launching through Microsoft Teams
• Access to patient healthcare information (PHI) in different systems with Azure Health Data Services with Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) APIs for integration and data exchange

Note that Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains), a different ERP product, interfaces with EMR (electronic medical record) and EHR (electronic healthcare record) systems for HIPAA compliance. GP can be used as a healthcare ERP instead for patient-centered organizations and medical device manufacturers. 

Acumatica

Overview

The Acumatica ERP system can be used by some participants in the healthcare industry with integration to third-party healthcare solutions that offer HIPAA compliance and other required compliance and control features. 

Features

• Financial accounting, multi-entity consolidations, and reporting
• Real-time analysis and dashboards with metrics
• Customizable
• Security features, including data encryption
• Mobile app access
• Integration with third-party software

SAP ERP

Overview

SAP ERP is an on-premises solution for large enterprises used in SAP for Healthcare. With cloud hosting for deployment as part of your ERP implementation, SAP ERP becomes a cloud-based ERP system. 

Features

• Electronic medical record 
• Healthcare analytics
• Healthcare information exchange (HIE)
• Real-time access to relevant data at point-of-care and information sharing
• Combines access to data for patient access, billing, and clinical care
• Procurement sourcing and purchasing module
• Human resources module
• Accounting and financial reporting

Xero

Overview

Xero is low-cost, basic accounting software on the cloud that’s augmented by a few third-party apps to increase its functionality across different functions. Third-party apps include practice management and Gusto payroll to make Xero more like an ERP system. Xero is not HIPAA-compliant and advises healthcare organizations to use Xero for limited back-office purposes, such as managing expenses. 

Features

• Accounting, financial reporting, and bank reconciliation 
• Basic accounts payable and accounts receivable
• Inventory tracking and management
• Bank reconciliation

Odoo

Overview

Odoo is a low-cost ERP system with modules covering a wide range of organizational functionality. To become an ERP for healthcare industry, Odoo can be integrated with Odoo healthcare management software modules from Pragmatic Techsoft, Pvt. Ltd., which is a third-party company based in India. 

The three modules within Odoo Healthcare Management offered by Pragmatic are:

1. Electronic medical record (EMR)
2. Hospital Information System (HIS)
3. Health Information System 

Features

• Tools for medical staff to manage a hospital or clinic 
• Patient record accessibility
• Automation for cost savings

Certinia (formerly FinancialForce)

Overview

Certinia (formerly FinancialForce) is a multi-industry ERP software provider with software that’s native to Salesforce to present a combined front-office and back-office solution. Certinia can be configured as a healthcare ERP solution. 

Certinia’s four products are ERP Cloud, Professional Services (PSA) Cloud, Customer Success Cloud, and Certinia AI. Certinia AI is used for analyzing financial, accounting, and operational data. In its role as business associate, Certinia is HIPAA compliant and provides tools for its customers to achieve HIPAA compliance. 

Features

• Certinia ERP Cloud features include:
  • Accounting and financial management
  • Reporting and dashboards
  • Order, procurement, and inventory
  • Revenue management
  • Certinia Tableau Connector for real-time visualizations and business intelligence
• Certinia AI is an AI platform for:
  • Cash Flow Forecasting using payment trends to predict each customer’s days-to-pay, with inflows and outflows visibility
  • Schedule Optimization identifies and provides solutions for potential project roadblocks and bottlenecks
  • Margin Optimization for project managers
  • Services Estimate Optimization to predict win rates

Epicor

Overview

Epicor is manufacturing software that can be applied as one type of healthcare ERP solution in the medical device industry. In this healthcare sector, Epicor for Medical Device works for businesses that manufacture end products and components. Kinetic is the new name of Epicor ERP. The Epicor for Medical Device solution uses Kinetics. 

Features

• Medical device industry standards compliance, including FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliance, ISO13485, and cGMP
• Product data management
• Production planning 
• Document control and quality process controls
• Quality Management System (QMS) with product traceability and audits
• Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
• SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) compliance
• Marketing and sales
• Sourcing and procurement
• Product delivery
• Accounting and financial reporting for global organizations

Choosing the Best ERP for Your Healthcare Organization 

Factors to consider when choosing the best ERP for your healthcare organization are the available budget vs. the software system price, the robustness of features, HIPAA compliance of the main ERP system and its patient-related third-party integrations, and suitability for a healthcare organization’s needs. 

Before selecting an accounting or ERP healthcare industry solution, ensure that operations will be HIPAA compliant through integrated systems to achieve the required data privacy for individually identified information. If you choose a lower-cost accounting system or a third-party integration without HIPAA compliance, limit its use to back-office processes that don’t require HIPAA regulation privacy. 

Discover and evaluate add-on software that will enhance your healthcare ERP. 

Leveraging Add-Ons to Expand Your ERP’s Capabilities

Seamlessly integrated add-on software expands your ERP’s capabilities. These add-ons provided extra functionality to leverage effectiveness and efficiency through digitization and automation to replace paper-based systems. Integration also provides access through interfaces to related healthcare systems. 

In the healthcare industry, your organization needs a connection to all accessible patient data to have a total view of their clinical needs. It also needs to control business operations. To manage business operations efficiently, control spending costs, and achieve better financial health, you need more functionality than your healthcare ERP or healthcare accounting software alone can provide. 

Tipalti Finance Automation Software

Tipalti finance automation software consists of add-on products that form a unified platform with integration to ERPs or accounting software. Tipalti is applied in a range of industries, including healthcare, as ERP integrations. The Tipalti software product line includes AP automation (for global accounts payable and invoice processing), mass payments software (for payouts to creatives, affiliates, influencers, publishers, and freelancers), employee expense reimbursement software, advanced FX software, and procurement software. 

Tipalti AP Automation Features and Related Software

Tipalti AP automation streamlines accounts payable processes and automates workflows for invoice processing with accounting automation. It provides near real-time visibility of financial data regarding spending and accounts payable balances (with integration into real-time ERP systems). Tipalti Expenses and advanced FX products, Multi-FX and FX Hedging for payables, work in combination with Tipalti AP automation software. 

Tipalti AP automation workflow features include:

• Self-service supplier onboarding through its Supplier Hub
• Digital invoice capture using OCR and Tipalti AIâ„  
• Supplier invoice verification with 26,000+ payment rules 
• Automated payments regulatory compliance
• Automated 3-way or 2-way matching
• Automated general ledger coding using AI
• Intelligent routing and communications for invoice approvals 
• Global supplier payments in large batches 
• Automated real-time batch payment reconciliation 
• Spending visibility by category for better decision-making to cut costs and improve financial performance 
• Tipalti AIâ„  and Ask Tipalti AIâ„  digital assistant with generative AI features for spend queries
• Multi-entity with multi-entity ERP software capabilities

Self-service Supplier Onboarding, Payment Status, and Tax Compliance

During the self-service supplier onboarding process, suppliers provide online data to submit W-9 or W-8 tax forms (before receiving their first payment), select their preferred payment method (payable in 196 countries and 120 currencies), and provide their contact and payment information. Tipalti validates suppliers to protect against fraudulent payments and authenticates taxpayer ID (TIN) numbers for accuracy. 

Payment choices include different types of electronic funds transfer (EFT) to minimize the need to prepare and sign paper checks that are prone to theft and fraudulent use. In the Supplier Hub, Tipalti automates invoice receipt and payment status for suppliers. This automated payment status reduces vendor payment inquiries and the need for accounts payable follow-up time. 

Tipalti AP automation tracks supplier payments and provides calendar-year 1099 and 1042-S tax compliance reporting to simplify staff work. With optional partnered Tax1099 software by Zenwork and 12 months of Tipalti calendar payments data, your healthcare organization can import the Tipalti payments data and automatically eFile its 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC forms. Tax1099 also automatically sends a copy to each payee recipient. 

Benefits of Tipalti AP Automation Software 

Tipalti is efficient enough at invoice processing to help your finance staff take early payment discounts within the payment term time limits. This helps your healthcare organization save a significant amount on its purchases for cost reduction.

Tipalti efficiently makes cross-border payments using a choice of available EFTs with its AP automation and mass payments products. This choice of payment method reduces the cost of making international wire transfers for all global payments by substituting less expensive payment methods when feasible to save your organization money. 

Tipalti reduces AP processing time by 80% and errors by 66%. The automated real-time payment reconciliation can speed up the accounting close by 25%. Tipalti is a scalable cloud system that can reduce your healthcare organization’s hiring needs as invoice volume increases. It syncs data with your ERP system to prevent the need for duplicate data entry. 

Tipalti Testimonial for Healthcare

Acuity Eye Group, a Tipalti healthcare industry customer since 2018 and NetSuite ERP user, benefits through efficiency and cost savings from the multi-entity application of Tipalti AP automation across its business operations. Acuity Eye Group saw an 80% reduction in workload across 12 subsidiaries and 50 locations by implementing Tipalti.

Tipalti automatically processes invoices for all of our entities and provides a consistent vendor onboarding program–it’s a lifesaver.

Samantha Chi, Financial Controller, Acuity Eye Group

Summing It Up

The best healthcare ERP solutions are good accounting systems with modular functionality for different departments throughout the organization and third-party integrations that can be used by healthcare organizations to achieve efficiency and access patient data from different systems. For medical devices, healthcare ERP software should include traceability. 

Tipalti provides add-on, integrated AP automation, mass payments, and other financial automation software products for healthcare organizations operating globally. Tipalti software increases efficiency, adds financial controls and compliance, helps healthcare and other industries control spend to reduce costs and improve profitability, and fills gaps in their basic accounting software or ERP system. Learn more about the uses and benefits of Tipalti finance automation software as an integration in the last mile of ERP.