8 Signs Your Podiatry Practice Has Outgrown Its EHR (and What to Ask at Goldfarb)

Nobody picks a bad EHR on purpose. You picked the one that made sense at the time, and for a while it did the job. The problem is that podiatry has changed a lot in the last few years, and a lot of systems have not changed with it. Coding got more complicated. AI went from a gimmick to something that actually writes your note. Payers are moving to electronic prior authorization. And your vendor's answer to all of it has been a price increase and a new logo.

The Goldfarb Clinical Conference (November 5 to 8, Hilton Philadelphia City Avenue) is the best place all year to find out whether you have outgrown your system, because every serious podiatry vendor is in one room. Here are the eight signs to look for, and the question to ask at every booth, including ours. ADS is at Booth 202.

1. You are still building your own templates

If you or your staff have spent hours creating a diabetic foot exam, a nail debridement note with class findings, or a wound care visit with photos, your EHR is a general-purpose system with a foot diagram on it. A podiatry EHR should ship with those.

Ask at the booth: "Show me your templates for a routine foot exam, a diabetic foot check, nail debridement with class findings, a bunionectomy, and a wound care visit."

2. The AI is a line item, not a feature

A lot of vendors have raised prices for "AI" that turns out to be a chatbot in the help menu. Real AI in podiatry does one thing above all: it gets you out of the note. MedicsScribeAI captures the encounter in natural language and produces a clean, visit-specific note while you are still in the room. AI Derive builds follow-up notes that maintain continuity without copying forward last visit. Both come with MedicsCloud, and practices that sign up at Goldfarb get a free 90-day trial of AI dictation. Dragon users, we support that too.

Ask at the booth: "What does your AI do during an actual encounter, and is it included or extra?"

3. Your notes read like last visit's notes

Copy-forward documentation is the fastest way to fail an audit and the second fastest way to get a claim denied. If your system makes it easier to clone a note than to write a new one, it is working against you. Thursday at Goldfarb is packed with compliance sessions (Act 124, Act 31, Risk Management Update) and the thread running through all of them is documentation that stands on its own.

Ask at the booth: "How does the system help me write an encounter-specific note faster than cloning the last one?"

4. Coding updates show up late, or not at all

The ICD-10-CM update took effect October 1. The 2027 CPT changes hit January 1. If your vendor pushes those to you weeks late, or expects you to load them yourself, every claim in between is a coin flip. Pair the APMA Coding Seminar on November 5 with a system that scrubs podiatry-specific denials before the claim goes out.

Ask at the booth: "When did your last code update land, and what podiatry denials does your scrubber catch pre-submission?"

5. Revenue is flat and nobody can tell you why

An EHR that cannot show you days in AR, clean claim rate, net collection rate, and denials by payer is not a practice management system, it is a filing cabinet. ADSRCM clients review those numbers with our team weekly and monthly, and that is why we can guarantee revenue growth of up to 20% in 90 days. If you would rather keep your current billing service, MedicsCloud works alongside it.

Ask at the booth: "Show me the KPI dashboard, and tell me whether I can keep my current biller."

6. Prior auth is still a fax machine and a phone call

Starting January 1, 2027, impacted payers must support FHIR-based electronic prior authorization under CMS-0057-F. Prior auth is one of the biggest time sinks in a podiatry office, and this is the first real chance to shrink it. If your vendor cannot say plainly that they are ready, they are not.

Ask at the booth: "Are you ready for FHIR electronic prior auth on January 1? Show me."

7. The podiatry-specific stuff lives in a spreadsheet

Orthotics and DME inventory. Retail products. Attorney tracking for personal injury patients. Wound care photos from a camera, not a phone. Patient self-scheduling and automated intake. E-prescribing. If any of that is happening outside your EHR, you are paying for a system and still doing the work by hand.

Ask at the booth: "Walk me through inventory, personal injury, and wound care imaging inside the system."

8. Support answers in days, not minutes

Your EHR goes down at 8:15 on a Monday with a full waiting room. What happens next tells you everything about your vendor. ADS has been building healthcare software since 1977 and we still answer the phone. Ask any vendor for a named implementation contact, a real go-live date, and what support looks like 60 days after launch.

Ask at the booth: "Who is my implementation contact, and what does support look like once the launch excitement is over?"

If you checked three or more

You have outgrown your system, and the timing is on your side. Conversions are something we do constantly, including clinical history, problem lists, medications, and documents, not just demographics. MedicsCloud EHR is ONC certified, built for podiatry, and we are offering conversion pricing for practices making the switch this quarter.

What to bring to Booth 202

• A list of the five templates you use most.
• Your top three frustrations with your current system.
• Your AR aging report, if you want us to look at the billing side too.

Twenty minutes with those three things and you will know whether Medics is the right fit. That beats another year on a system that stopped keeping up.

Schedule a podiatry EHR demo

Ask about conversion pricing for practices switching this quarter, or visit Booth 202 at Goldfarb.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if my podiatry practice has outgrown its EHR?

Common signs include building your own podiatry templates, AI sold as an add-on that does not help in the exam room, copy-forward notes, late coding updates, flat revenue with no KPI visibility, manual prior authorization, podiatry-specific work living in spreadsheets, and slow support.

Does ADS help practices convert from another EHR?

Yes. ADS regularly converts podiatry practices from other systems to MedicsCloud EHR, including clinical history, problem lists, medications, and documents, and is offering conversion pricing for practices switching this quarter.

Is MedicsCloud EHR built for podiatry?

Yes. MedicsCloud EHR for Podiatry is ONC certified and includes podiatry templates, wound care imaging, inventory and DME management, attorney management for personal injury cases, e-prescribing, self-scheduling, and MedicsScribeAI for AI documentation.

Can I use MedicsCloud EHR with my current billing company?

Yes. MedicsCloud works alongside your existing billing service. ADSRCM podiatry billing services are available when you are ready.

Where can I see MedicsCloud EHR in person?

At Booth 202 during the 54th Annual Goldfarb Clinical Conference, November 5 to 8, 2026, Hilton Philadelphia City Avenue, Philadelphia.