DrChrono gives small practices an EHR with billing tools. SignalRCM handles billing operations for groups that need more follow-through.
DrChrono is a mobile-first, iPad-friendly EHR with scheduling, charting, and built-in billing tools your team runs in-house. SignalRCM is a managed billing partner for specialty practices and medical groups: we connect to the EHR you already use — including DrChrono — and handle the billing work while your team keeps visibility. This page is for deciding whether in-app billing tools are enough or you want the operation handled.
Built-in billing tools, or billing handled for you
DrChrono is a clinical product with billing tools inside the app. SignalRCM is the billing operation. The decision is how much follow-through your billing needs.
Choose DrChrono when…
You are a solo or smaller practice that wants a native iPad EHR for charting at the point of care, with scheduling, telehealth, and lightweight billing in a single app — and your team is comfortable running billing in-house or on DrChrono's Elite RCM tier.
Choose SignalRCM when…
You are a specialty practice or medical group that needs billing operations handled with real follow-through — coding review, claims, denials, payment posting, and patient billing — on the EHR you already run, including DrChrono itself.
The tradeoff
DrChrono keeps clinical work and light billing in one simple, mobile-first app. But billing depth is lighter than a dedicated operation, and the work stays with your staff unless you buy the Elite tier. SignalRCM takes the billing work off your team with deeper follow-through, but it is a billing partner rather than your clinical software.
Who owns the work in each model
The billing tasks are the same. What changes is whether your staff run them in the app or SignalRCM handles them for you.
| Area | With DrChrono | With SignalRCM |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical workflow | Native iPad app with touch charting, Apple Pencil, and camera capture | No clinical interface — keeps your existing EHR (DrChrono, Epic, Athena, eClinicalWorks, and others) |
| Billing staff workload | Your staff run billing in the app, or you buy the Elite RCM tier | SignalRCM's team runs the billing workflow for you |
| Coding review | Manual coding by staff; speech-to-text and customizable templates aid documentation | Suggested ICD-10 and CPT codes routed for physician review before submission |
| Claims & scrubbing | Claim scrubbing and electronic claims inside the app | Claims checked against payer rules and submitted for you |
| Denials & appeals | Basic denial workflow in the app; appeals handled by staff unless on the Elite tier | Every denial is reviewed and challenged — appeal, correction, or resubmission tracked through resolution |
| Payments & reconciliation | ERA/EOB posting inside the app | Payment posting and ERA reconciliation handled for you |
| Patient billing | Statements and reminders in the app, with per-statement overage fees (about $0.59–$0.90) | Statements, follow-up, and patient billing questions handled by SignalRCM's team |
| Reporting & visibility | In-app billing reports your team runs | Real-time dashboard into collections, denials, and payer performance |
| Getting started | Typical go-live in two to four weeks configuring the app | Most practices go live in weeks; SignalRCM handles EHR connection, payer enrollment, and data migration |
Where DrChrono makes sense
For solo and smaller practices that value a simple, mobile-first clinical tool, DrChrono is a strong all-in-one. The details worth knowing:
What SignalRCM takes off your team
SignalRCM is built for specialty practices and medical groups that need billing operations handled with more follow-through than in-app tools provide.
Software tiers vs billing work removed
Tiered software with per-transaction overages can still leave billing work inside your practice. Weigh it against the work SignalRCM removes at one price.
DrChrono
DrChrono offers five plan tiers — Essentials, Essentials Plus, Advanced, Advanced Plus, and Elite — with public pricing typically starting around $299 per provider per month and the Elite tier (which includes RCM services) priced on quote. Overage fees apply: $0.05 per text reminder, $0.07 per faxed page, $0.59–$0.90 per patient statement, $0.70 per paper claim. Migration fees may apply. Billing labor stays with your team unless you buy Elite.
SignalRCM
SignalRCM prices the managed billing service to practice size, specialty, and claim volume in one number that includes coding, claims, denials, and patient billing. There are no plan tiers, transactional overage fees, or per-statement charges, because SignalRCM delivers the workflow as a service rather than a software product with usage limits.
Which one fits your practice
Choose DrChrono if you are a solo or smaller practice that wants a native iPad EHR with scheduling, telehealth, and lightweight billing in one app, and your team is comfortable running billing in-house or on the Elite tier. Choose SignalRCM if you are a specialty practice or medical group that wants billing operations handled with real follow-through — physician-reviewed coding, denials worked through resolution, payment posting, and patient billing — on the EHR you already use.
Questions practices ask
DrChrono is an iPad-first EHR with built-in billing tools your team runs. SignalRCM is a managed billing partner that handles the work on whichever EHR you use, including DrChrono. Solo and smaller practices that want a simple clinical app often prefer DrChrono; specialty practices and groups that need billing operations handled prefer SignalRCM.
No. SignalRCM is EHR-agnostic and works on top of DrChrono as well as Epic, Athena, eClinicalWorks, and others. Practices can keep charting in DrChrono and add SignalRCM as the billing partner instead of running billing in-app or buying the Elite RCM tier.
DrChrono prices software tiers from about $299 per provider per month, plus per-transaction overages for statements, paper claims, and reminders, with Elite RCM quoted separately. SignalRCM prices one managed service to claim volume, including coding, claims, denials, and patient billing. Compare total billing cost — software, overages, and staff time — not just the tier.
DrChrono's app includes claim scrubbing, electronic claims, ERA/EOB posting, and a basic denial workflow — but your staff run it unless you are on Elite. SignalRCM operates coding review, claims, denials worked through resolution, payment posting, and patient billing for you, with a dashboard for visibility instead of an app to staff.
DrChrono go-lives typically run two to four weeks as your office configures the app. SignalRCM's onboarding is comparable but different in scope — EHR connection, payer enrollment, and historical migration handled by our team — and most practices can go live in weeks.