04/08/2026    Kenneth Meisler, DPM

Podiatry and MIPS in 2026 (Michael Brody, DPM

I started with podiatry-specific EMRs in the early
1990s. I believe I have had three different ones.
I was happy with all of them. I only switched when
the company was bought out by another company and
you had to switch to the new companies version. I
was going to do the same thing about 2 years ago
because my current EMR had been bought out and
again you had to switch by a certain date or it
would not be supported or even run. I was prepared
to do the same thing as in the past, just go with
the new company that had bought it. There are four
doctors in my practice and the price was going to
go up dramatically per doctor.

I thought it was time to look into other programs
especially because the price for four doctors was
basically four times the price of one doctor even
though it involves significantly less work for the
EMR program to support one office with four
doctors than four offices with one doctor. For
example, we have only one billing person to call
and ask questions for all four doctors vs four
separate billing people to ask the same question
for four one doctor offices. In the past, they
always gave a multiple doctor office a discount or
I was able to negotiate a discount from paying 4x
as much as four one doctor offices. This time
there was absolutely no flexibility so I thought I
should consider other programs and decide.

I then looked at Next Gen because 2-3 years ago it
was the "preferred EHR of the APMA" and I believe
still is. I thought therefore it must be pretty
good. Their prices were more reasonable and I am
saving a significant amount. I am also happy with
certain aspects of the company like their customer
service. However, it did not take me long to see
that in my opinion it was NOT especially podiatry
friendly. In addition, I did not find it any
easier to use than my old program that was being
discontinued and had not been changed in about 2
years.

I called the APMA in the late fall of 2024 about
NextGen regarding MIPS issues and other things I
thought that should be in a Podiatry specific
program.
I wanted to speak to the person that made the
decision to make it the "preferred EHR of the APM"
and I assumed was quite familiar with the program
and also speak to anyone that might be making sure
the program continued to be podiatry friendly.
I had a few conversations and e-mails going back
and forth with the APMA and this is what I
received from them.

I hope your winter is going well and you’re having
a great end of 2024!
’ve been in communication with the team at
NextGen Office. I’ve shared your feedback and
contact information with them, and they will be
reaching out to you to discuss your concerns and
feedback about the EHR platform. I did let them
know you wanted to speak with a DPM. They
indicated they’d like to connect with you first
and could then connect you with a DPM if you’d
like that.

The main DPM we were working with when we were
beginning our relationship with NGO had a major
health situation earlier this year and, to my
knowledge, isn’t back to work. Let me know if you
have any additional questions! Thank you for your
membership in APMA!

In addition, I have not seen any significant
changes since my communications in 2024. I was
told they were going to improve Podiatry MIPS
reporting but have seen very little improvement
since last year. I do get frequent e mails and
sales pitches about adding the new A-I part of
their program at additional cost . I think a lot
of time and effort has gone into that with very
little towards helping with MIPS submission. Next
Gen is a very large company and as Dr. Brody has
said many other podiatry programs have much more
MIPS integration than NextGen.

I think the APMA needs to help get NextGen to
focus more on podiatry since it is the "approved
APMA EMR program". I do want to stay with them.
Switching programs was a lot of work. I can't
imagine incorporating more MIPS reporting is very
difficult. There are also other podiatry specific
shortcuts that in my opinion should be in any
podiatry program.

Here is what I found in A.I. searching for NextGen
& APMA.

"NextGen® Office is the preferred Electronic
Health Record (EHR) of the American Podiatric
Medical Association (APMA), offering specialized
workflows, MIPS reporting, and AI-driven
documentation tailored for podiatrists. This
strategic partnership integrates APMA’s clinical
expertise with NextGen’s technology to improve
practice efficiency and patient care."

Thank you Dr. Brody for bringing this up
especially since you are so familiar with the
various other podiatry programs. I really hope
NextGen fixes MIPS reporting and the start to work
on other podiatry-specific issues.

Kenneth Meisler, DPM, NY, NY

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