Brightree alternative: what their published contract says about your data

Most pages about a Brightree alternative are written from opinion, or from a handful of reviews, or from what somebody heard at a trade show. This one is written from Brightree’s own contract documents, because they publish them, and because what a vendor puts in a contract is more reliable than anything either of us will tell you in a demo.

Noble*Direct is ours, so read this knowing who wrote it. Every quotation below is taken verbatim from a document Brightree publishes at a public URL, and every document is linked at the foot of this page, so you can check every line of it for yourself rather than taking our word or theirs.

Brightree in its own words, and who owns it

Brightree says it automates every aspect of your business and enables you to deliver a world-class patient experience. It sells cloud-based software across three verticals: home medical equipment, pharmacy and home infusion, and orthotics and prosthetics. It also sells an outsourced billing service, staffed by its own people.

It is a wholly owned subsidiary of ResMed, which agreed to buy it in February 2016 for 800 million dollars and completed the purchase that April. That ownership is relevant in both directions and this page will come back to it, because for some buyers it is the single best reason to choose Brightree.

Their contract is public. Read it before you sign one.

Brightree puts its master services agreement and its module by module terms schedule on a public page, with no form in front of them. That is unusual in this category, and it is useful to you, because it means the terms you would be signing can be read before a salesperson ever calls. Most buyers never open them. The rest of this page is what is in them.

The reason to read it is simple. A demo shows you the software working. A contract tells you what you are entitled to when it is not, what costs extra, and what happens at the end. Those are the questions that decide whether you are still happy in year three.

What the module terms say about reaching your own data

Getting at your own data in Brightree is a purchase. There are two routes, and each is a separately ordered module with its own terms in the Additional Terms and Conditions for Modules.

The first is the Web Services API. Their terms require that Client must utilize technical resources familiar with modern web-based integration technologies including SOAP based web services, so this is an integration project rather than a connection string. More significantly, the same section reads: If Brightree, in its sole discretion, determines that Client intends to utilize the Web Services API to interface with any solution beyond those stated in its application, it may terminate access to the Web Services API by notifying Client. Access to your own data through that route is conditional on Brightree’s reading of what you intend to use it for.

The second is Data as a Service. Its terms commit you for a minimum of one year from the date Brightree signs the order, require ninety days written notice to end, and state that Brightree may modify the Fees at any time with written notice to Client. The same section adds that Any data added to the DaaS solution will not be pushed back into the Brightree Software and that Client acknowledges that the DaaS solution does not contain the same audit capabilities as the Brightree Software.

Two sets of numbers that may not agree

This is the clause that should change how you think about the demo. Of its Advanced Analytics module, Brightree writes: Client understands and agrees that the Advanced Analytics solution runs off a snapshot of data and not off of live database in the Software. Reports run off of the two (2) platforms may produce different results. The Data as a Service terms carry the same warning in almost the same words: Reports run from the two platforms may produce different results.

Read that plainly. Your analytics platform and your billing platform can disagree about your own business, and that possibility is written into the agreement you sign. It is a real operational cost. When two numbers differ, somebody in your office stops what they are doing and works out which one is right, and it is never at a convenient moment.

Noble*Direct is built the other way round. Reporting runs against the same Microsoft SQL Server database the application writes to, so there is one set of numbers rather than two, and you can point Power BI, Tableau or Excel at it directly. That is the architectural difference underneath this whole page, and the client-server versus web-based piece explains why it follows from how the two products are built.

What the master agreement says about leaving

Start with what the agreement does say. Their master services agreement states: Client shall retain all ownership, right, title, and interest to all data they input into the SaaS Solution. You own your data. That settles the easy question and leaves the one that actually costs you money: owning it is not the same as being able to walk out with it.

That gap is worth asking about, and so is the clock running beside it. The agreement renews itself: it shall be automatically renewed for consecutive one (1) year terms unless you give notice ninety days before the end of the current term. Its effect of termination clause spells out what you must do with Brightree’s proprietary information, and treats work done at termination as additional services billed at prevailing rates. What we could not find anywhere in it is a stated obligation on Brightree to deliver your data to you in a usable form when you leave, on a named timetable, at a known price.

That question barely arises with Noble*Direct installed on your own network. The Microsoft SQL Server database is already on your server, already inside your own nightly backups, and already readable by any tool you can point at it. There is nothing to request, nothing to schedule and nothing to be quoted for, because on the day you decide anything you are holding the data already.

Where the two overlap

Both products carry a DME order from intake through billing to collections. Both handle rentals, documentation, inventory and delivery. Neither publishes a price, so you will be comparing two quotes rather than two rate cards, and you should insist that both are priced at your actual claim volume rather than at a starting tier.

Noble*Direct has 30+ years in DME software behind it, processes one to four million claims a month, and publishes the services it connects to, including Parachute Health, Tennr, RevSpring, OptimoRoute and CardConnect. What it does not do is put your own data behind a separately ordered module with its own minimum term, its own fees and its own termination clause.

What you get by moving

Everything above is about what a contract restricts. Here is what changes on the other side of one.

• One set of numbers. Reporting runs against the live Microsoft SQL Server database the application writes to. There is no second platform to reconcile against, no refresh interval to allow for, and no clause warning you that two reports may disagree.
• Your database, reachable, at no extra order. Point Power BI, Tableau or Excel straight at it and build the view you actually need. Cross-reference unbilled claims against delivery routes. Watch denials by referring physician while there is still time to act. None of that is a module you order and none of it can be switched off because of what somebody decides you intended.
• The database sits on your server. Run Noble*Direct on your own network and your patient records, claims history and documents are inside your own building and your own nightly backups. Nothing has to be requested, scheduled or quoted for, because you are already holding it.
• A person on the phone. Noble House puts no automated phone tree in front of support. When a claim is stuck at four in the afternoon you reach someone who understands the technical situation, not a ticket queue.
• 30+ years of it. Noble*Direct has been built for this one industry since 1989 and processes one to four million claims a month. The depth shows up in the unglamorous places: capped rentals, same or similar, documentation rules, the parts of DME billing that only look simple from outside.

Five things to get in writing before you sign anything

1. What does it cost to reach my own data, is it a separate line item, and can that access be withdrawn. Ask for the clause, not the answer.
2. Will my reporting run against the live database or against a copy of it, and if it is a copy, how often does it refresh and what can make the two disagree.
3. On the day I leave, what exactly do you hand me, in what format, how long does it take and what does it cost. Ask for that in the agreement rather than in an email.
4. How does the term renew, and how many days notice do I have to give before it renews again. Put the date in your calendar the day you sign.
5. Which fees can you change unilaterally during the term, and what notice do I get.

Ask those five questions of whoever you are talking to and the answers will tell you more than any demo, and the wider field is worth seeing side by side before you shortlist. If you want to see what Noble*Direct does rather than read about contracts, the software features page walks through the modules, and the seven questions to ask before you buy DME billing software covers the rest of the evaluation. If you would rather talk to a person, ask for a demo.