What’s the difference between
PPMP and Power Diary?
There is no disputing that PPMP is a great system, but if you are looking to streamline your practice with time-saving features such as automated appointment reminders, pre-prepared treatment note templates, and an advanced waitlist, all whilst incurring no one-off setup or licence fees, then Power Diary will be the best option for you.
Please note that as Power Diary is a cloud-based system, this comparison focuses mainly on PPMP’s Cloud Solution account.
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Why should you choose Power Diary?
REASON #1
Automated Appointment Reminders
Every practice experiences no-shows, which are always frustrating and costly. But no-shows can be drastically reduced with the use of appointment reminders. Whilst you can send reminders with PPMP, these must all be sent manually, requiring a very strict system to ensure that you or your team send them when needed. When a client wishes to cancel, the practitioner receives a notification, requiring further manual action to remove from the diary.
With Power Diary, you can virtually eliminate the chance of no-shows with our simple, but very effective, automated appointment reminders. Send up to 3 SMS and email reminders per appointment, choosing sending times for each, and you’ll soon notice a drastic decline in no-shows. Furthermore, Power Diary has inbuilt logic to recognise responses, and automatically processes them within the diary, marking as either confirmed or cancelled with no manual work required!
REASON #2
Advanced Waitlist to Fill Cancellations
Whilst automated appointment reminders will reduce the number of no-shows you receive, they will also result in reschedules and cancellations, sometimes at short notice. Waitlists are a common solution to filling newly available time slots, and like PPMP, they usually involve you or your team reaching out to clients on the list until the appointment is taken. Whilst this can be an effective solution, it’s often very time consuming, and occasionally unsuccessful, particularly when you are short on time.
Power Diary’s waitlist feature has advanced functionalities which will streamline this process and have any gaps filled with minimal effort. With just a few clicks, you can send a bulk SMS message to a select group of clients based on their availability, current length of wait, and preferred practitioner. With over 99% of text messages being read within 5 minutes of delivery, the appointment is bound to be taken in no time.
REASON #3
Preprepared Treatment Note Templates
We are often told by customers how much time they save simply by having the right templates in place. This is why at Power Diary, we have prepared over 100 specialised treatment note templates, all of which are fully customisable. You can also create and store as many templates as you require, and can easily duplicate previous notes for added efficiency.
Whilst PPMP supports treatment notes, they do not provide any pre-prepared templates, so clinicians would be required to set theirs up from scratch. This can be a very time consuming task, particularly during setup, and if you offer multiple treatments or services. There are also various limitations with PPMP’s sections, including no option to add multiple choice questions, or drop-down lists.
REASON #4
Synchronised Online Booking Portal
Whilst both systems offer online bookings via the client portal, PPMP comes with a time consuming issue.
There are going to be times when two clients are looking to book the same time slot at the same time. When this occurs within PPMP, rather than informing the unsuccessful client that the appointment is now unavailable and requesting they choose another slot, the practice is sent an email requesting that they call the client to confirm a booking. For a busy practice, this can quickly become very frustrating for both the client and the practitioner. For this to occur, it seems that the only explanation is that there is a slight delay in the synchronisation of the calendar and online booking system.
It’s also worth noting that for PPMP Desktop Solution, there is an installation fee of $295 (One-off) and $11 per month to use the online booking feature. Online bookings with Power Diary are free of charge, regardless of which device you are using.
REASON #5
No Setup Fees
With Power Diary, there are no one-off setup fees. You simply pay for the time you are with us. However, with PPMP, practitioners incur a one-off installation/licence cost, quoted at $540.
Both PPMP and Power Diary support simple Medicare claim submissions, and although neither system charges a transaction fee per claim, with PPMP you will incur a one-off installation cost of $450 to utilise this feature. Medicare claiming is included with every Power Diary account completely free of charge.
To put this into context, starting out with PPMP will cost $990 purely on installation and licence fees, plus the monthly subscription fee. This figure far exceeds the subscription cost for a single practitioner for an entire year with Power Diary (without including our special offer)! For anyone joining on their On-Premises Solution, the one-off fee increases to $1285 with the online bookings installation fee.
REASON #6
Money-Back Guarantee
Unlike any other provider, Power Diary offers a 100% money-back guarantee should you decide within the first 12 months that we’re not a good fit for your practice. This guarantee covers any subscription fees to date, as well as SMS charges! There are no catches, cancellation fees, or deductions.
As well as this, we also offer a 14 day free trial. Each trial account has access to all features including SMS messaging and our data import service.
Not only does PPMP not offer a money-back guarantee, but there is also no option of a free trial. Any decisions must be based solely on their website and a demo (available on request).
REASON #7
In-Platform Practice Operations Manual
When you start with Power Diary, you’re choosing the only practice management system with an in-platform Practice Operations Manual. The Practice Manual comes ready-to-go, and is completely adaptable for your practice. You can edit, delete and archive the existing policies- or add your own.
Even better, it’s available with your Power Diary subscription at no additional cost. PPMP doesn’t offer this feature- in fact, no other practice management system does. Our customers have been calling this a game-changer, and we think you’ll agree!
No risk with our Money-Back Guarantee
Yes, you read that right! Simply start your account now, and if at any point over the next 12 months you decide Power Diary isn’t right for you, just let us know. We’ll refund 100% of any subscription fees you’ve paid.
Still not sure whether to choose
Power Diary or PPMP?
Here’s a chart where you can make a fair assessment…
| Power Diary vs. PPMP | Power Diary | PPMP |
|---|---|---|
| Free trial | 14 day free trial, with access to all features including SMS messaging. Free data import service included. | No free trial offered. Practitioners must request a demo of PPMP. |
| Price for 1 practitioner (per week) | $13.85 for the PPMP Cloud Solution | |
| Price for 3 practitioners (per week) | $26.30 for the PPMP Cloud Solution | |
| Price for 7 practitioners (per week) | Not publicly available | |
| Price for 15 practitioners (per week) | Not publicly available | |
| Price for 30 practitioners (per week) | Not publicly available | |
| Calendar management | ||
| SMS & email reminders | Send up to 3 SMS and email reminders per appointment, with flexible sending times. Responses auto-update appointment status within the diary. | Yes, but reminders are not automated – each must be manually sent. Any responses to reminders must be manually updated within the diary, and confirm within PPMP once actioned. |
| 2-Way SMS chat | ||
| Telehealth | Integrated telehealth, with no need for calls to pass through third-party servers. Every session is secure and compliant with all health standards, using end-to-end encryption with peer-to-peer connections. | Telehealth appointments are ‘powered by Zoom’. |
| Online Forms | Choose from our library of customisable templates, or create your own from scratch. Collect all the information you need – including digital signatures. Ideal for client intake forms or telehealth consent. Send a unique link to clients via SMS or email, and set up notifications to flag returned forms. | There is no mention of online forms on PPMP’s website. |
| Client management system | ||
| Treatment notes | Over 100 specialised and fully customisable templates. Easily duplicate previous notes, and view full edit history of templates. | Yes, but no pre-prepared templates provided so all must be created from scratch. Restricted customisation options, including no multiple choice or tick boxes. |
| Online bookings | Online bookings can be made via the portal, automatically updating the diary. Apply branding to the booking portal, including colours, a logo and a header image. A booking link can be added to a website or facebook. | Yes, but limited functionality compared with Power Diary. Also comes with some time consuming issues, such as double bookings, resulting in manual outreach to rebook the unsuccessful booking. This is possibly due to delays in diary sync. |
| Waitlist | See who’s waiting, their preferred practitioner, and availability. Allows for direct SMS messages to be sent to those on the waitlist. | Yes, but very basic. Lists are created for each practitioner with patient name and date added. |
| Invoices & payments | Able set calendar alerts to flag clients with outstanding payments, and alert practitioners of new bookings made by clients with unsettled invoices, as well as block clients from booking until fully settled. Integrates with Xero and Stripe. | Yes, but with some limitations compared with Power Diary, including no option to record full or partial payments, as well as spreading bulk payments from clients across their outstanding invoices. Able to set notifications should a client book an appointment before invoices are settled. Integrates with Xero and Stripe. |
| Credit card processing | Payments can be required and processed at the time of booking online, during home visits, and directly through the client portal, via the Stripe integration. | Able to process credit cards through an integration with Stripe. |
| Reports & analytics | ||
| Money-back guarantee | ||
| Data import service | Comprehensive data import service free of charge. | Patient demographic data transferred for free. |
| Practice Operations Manual | This industry-first feature provides a core set of policies and procedures that are ready to use and easily adapted to your practice. |
*This comparison article reflects information available as of April 2020.
*Pricing with current special offer available until the end of this month.
All prices are in AUD.
You can see why Power Diary is trusted by thousands of practitioners.
Try Power Diary for Yourself!
Here’s what Power Diary Clients are Saying…
"Great customizable practice software! Power Diary is able to easily be customized for the way I run my practice. Plus, the customer service team are very responsive."
Lauren Hancock,
Psychologist/Director,
Hancock Psychology
“Very easy to operate and manage everything with excellent customer support.”
Santosh Kumar,
Physiotherapist,
Santosh Physiotherapy
“The most value for money asset in my massage business. Online booking, bulk email and automatic appt reminders are just a few of the great features.”
Julanne Rafter,
Remedial Massage Therapist,
Sol Bodyworks Remedial Massage
"Great easy booking system - love that I can do reports, store patient notes, send emails, invoices and write letters. Has made my business seamless!"
Sarah Sealey,
Physiotherapist,
Amity Physio Pilates
"PD is going great!! I absolutely love it. We've changed practice management software twice this year. Then found Power Diary from an OT friend who said she used it. It suits what we need as a business perfectly :)"
Ryan Dreves,
Exercise Physiologist,
Physically Active
"Using PowerDiary has allowed me to decrease the time spent on writing client notes, creating practice reports as well as reducing the amount of paper I use in my business. I love how I can log in from my computer or tablet, allowing me to keep my documentation in my mobile business up to date."
Leesa Musarra, Occupational Therapist
Therapy Solutions
Happy customers are our lifeblood. We’d love you to join us.
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