DPC EMR Switch Kit, Your Costs, Timeline and Checklist
Thinking about leaving your EMR? Pick the system you use today and the one (or ones) you're considering, add your providers, members and a target go-live date, and this kit shows what each option costs per year at your size, a dated plan that counts back from go-live, and a checklist of what will and won't come across. Everything appears as you type, and you can save the full plan with demo questions as a PDF.
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Opening soon or switching tools?
Book a free 20-minute stack review with the Tabflows team. We'll look at the tools you're picking or already use and map how they should connect, before opening day or before your next renewal.
How the cost comparison works
The kit uses only published prices, the ones each vendor lists on its own site, checked in November 2026. When a vendor doesn't publish a price for your situation, the line reads "Quote-based" and stays out of the totals, so a missing number never quietly makes one option look cheaper than it is.
For your current EMR, the kit shows what you'd pay going forward, without setup fees you've already paid. If you pay a different rate, type your real monthly bill into the optional box and it replaces the published price. For each EMR you're considering, it shows two numbers. The yearly cost once you're set up, and the first-year cost, which adds any one-time setup fees the vendor publishes.
| EMR | What the kit counts | One-time fees counted |
|---|---|---|
| Atlas.md | $300/mo per provider, eRx $400/yr per prescriber from year two | eRx setup $475 per prescriber, PDMP $525 |
| Elation | Standard DPC, $375/mo per provider | None published |
| Akute | Essentials or Premium by clinicians and patients | None published |
| Hint | Launch, $290/mo per clinician | None published on Launch |
| Cerbo | $281/mo per prescriber, portal $79/mo | Setup $1,195 |
| Charm | Provider plan $200/mo plus eRx $15/mo each | None published |
| Healthie | Essentials or Plus for one clinician | None published |
| Hero EMR, SigmaMD | No published price | Quote-based |
Some choices behind the numbers matter. Akute prices by clinicians and patients together, so the kit treats your active members as Akute patients and adds the published per-patient price above each plan's included count. Akute publishes plans for one or two clinicians, so three or more shows as quote-based. If memberships are billed inside your EMR, the kit adds Akute's Hint Core billing add-on ($50 a month on Essentials, $110 on Premium), and it adds Akute's $15 a month for controlled substances when you tick that box. For Hint, the kit prices Launch and notes what Pro would cost at your size, since employer billing starts on Pro. Card processing is shown as each vendor's published rate rather than added in, because it depends on your membership price and how members pay. The growing DPC group guide covers pricing for extra clinicians in more depth.
How the timeline counts back
The timeline starts from your go-live date and works backward. The export request lands about ten weeks out, the five-patient test a week later, then data mapping, ePrescribing and EPCS enrollment, lab interfaces, the membership plan, member notices, two weeks of staff training, a final import and a parallel week where the old system stays the official record while your team rehearses real visits in the new one. After go-live it adds a daily check of the old system and a 30-day review.
The billing day matters more than any other date. Membership dues are your revenue, so the kit places the last charge from your current system and the first charge from the new one on the calendar, with a reconciliation three days before that first charge. That's the step that keeps a member from being charged twice or skipped. If your go-live falls on a billing day, or the window is shorter than about seven weeks, a yellow note says so. A go-live date the day after your billing run gives you nearly a full cycle to fix anything before the new system charges anyone.
Before you sign with the new vendor, ask for a test import of five real patients, including your most complicated one, and compare each chart side by side with the original. It's the cheapest hour of the whole switch.
What moves and what doesn't
Health software was never built to hand data to another vendor's system, so every switch involves some checking by hand. The checklist sorts each kind of data into what usually comes across, what to check, what to ask about and what gets set up fresh.
Demographics usually move cleanly. Problems, medications, allergies and immunizations often export in a standard format, but whether they land as editable fields or as an attached file depends on both systems. Lab interfaces and ePrescribing enrollment are always set up again, and controlled-substance prescribing comes with its own identity check and two-factor setup for each prescriber. Saved cards are the big unknown. Whether they can move depends on the two payment processors, and only the vendors can answer that.
The kit doesn't guess at any vendor's export or import abilities. Where the published facts are silent, the item becomes a question for your vendor. The few vendor facts it does use are published ones. Hint, for example, lists a Data Exporter add-on at $500 a month on Pro and Scale (not on Launch), and it publishes a sync with Elation for contact details and each member's plan and status, which matters if you're thinking of moving only the chart.
If you dispense, the checklist adds your formulary, stock counts and lot numbers. The in-house dispensing guide covers what to test on a demo.
What to do with your results
Start with the cost cards. If the yearly difference is small, the deciding factor is usually fit rather than price, and the guide to the best DPC EMR for your kind of practice helps you judge that. If one option shows "Quote-based", get that number in writing before you compare.
Then take the printable plan to your demos. It holds the cost comparison, your dated timeline, the checklist and a question list for each EMR you're considering, plus questions for your current vendor about the export, read-only access after you cancel, your contract end date and your fax number. Bring the same list to every demo.
Finally, look at what connects to your chart today. Phones, texting, intake forms and scheduling all point at your current EMR, and each will need to be pointed somewhere new. If billing lives in a separate tool, the kit flags that the two will need to stay matched through the switch. And if you're opening rather than switching, the first-year guide shows how to pick a system you're less likely to leave.
The part most guides skip
Every tool in a DPC clinic is good at its own job, and none of them were built to talk to each other. A patient text turns into a refill in the chart, which needs a review, which needs a reply, and the follow-up lives in someone's head. That isn't anyone's fault. The tools just don't share a to-do list.
That's the job Tabflows does. Tabflows is a dedicated tech team for DPC clinics. We connect the tools you already chose and give your team one place for chat, tasks and patient context, with managed workflows for the repeat work like refills, lab follow-ups and onboarding. You keep every tool you picked.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to switch EMRs in a direct primary care practice?
Plan on about ten weeks from the export request to go-live, plus a month of checking afterward. ePrescribing enrollment and new lab interfaces depend on other people's schedules, so ask the new vendor for its usual turnaround before you set a date.
Will my members have to re-enter their credit cards when I change EMRs?
It depends on whether the two payment processors can move saved cards between them, which only the two vendors can answer. Ask both directly, and if cards can't move, give members a date and a simple link well before the first charge from the new system.
When is the best day to go live on a new DPC EMR?
The day after your membership billing run. The old system finishes its last charge, you switch off its recurring billing, and you have nearly a full cycle to check every member before the new system charges anyone.
What doesn't move when you switch EMRs?
Lab interfaces, ePrescribing enrollment (including controlled-substance setup) and most templates and order sets are set up fresh in the new system. Saved cards, portal messages and fax numbers depend on the vendors involved, so ask before you assume.
How much does it cost to switch DPC EMRs?
Beyond the new subscription, budget for any published setup fees. Atlas.md lists $475 per prescriber for ePrescribing setup and $525 per clinic for PDMP setup, and Cerbo lists a $1,195 one-time setup fee. Migration help is quote-based at most vendors, so ask on the demo.