How to choose clinic management software in India: nine questions to ask

To choose clinic management software, test it against your own clinic's day before you pay. Ask nine questions: who will type into it, how it handles walk-ins, whether it fits your speciality, how it books repeat visits, how it takes part payments, what it costs for the whole clinic, whether it works on a phone, where the records are kept, and how you get them out.

A demo shows the software on its best day, with a tidy sample clinic. The problems appear in the second week, on a full morning, at your own front desk. Each question below is one you can check in the demo itself.

1. Who will actually type into it?

Choose for the person at the front desk first. In a small clinic the receptionist, the compounder or the sister registers the patient, gives the token and takes the money, and the doctor types the least. If they find the software hard, it will be abandoned however much the doctor likes it. In the demo, ask to see the front desk's screen first, and picture your own staff using it on a full morning.

2. Does it handle walk-ins, or only appointments?

You need a token and a waiting line, with appointments joining the same line when the patient arrives. Some software assumes every patient has booked, which does not suit an OPD where people walk in. Ask to see exactly how a walk-in is given a token, and time it.

3. Does it fit your speciality on day one?

Ask to see the software as it looks for your speciality before anyone has configured it. A generic system gives every doctor the same blank screen and leaves the setup to you: your services, your medicines and your way of booking, typed in over several evenings. A physiotherapist should see sessions and packages on the first day. A paediatrician should see syrups and a growth record.

4. How does it treat a course of visits?

Good software books a whole course in one step and shows where each patient stands in it. This matters if your patients come back several times, for physiotherapy sessions, dressings, laser sittings or antenatal check-ups. When each visit has to be booked one at a time, the next one is easily forgotten and the patient stops half way.

5. Can it take part payments and show who owes?

The software should record each payment by how it was paid, and give you one list of everyone who still owes money. Patients pay part now and the rest later, and they pay by UPI, cash and card on the same day. Without that list, the dues live in someone's memory.

6. What does it cost for the whole clinic?

Compare the total you would pay in a year. Some products charge per doctor, some per user and some per patient or per message. Ask for the price with your real number of doctors and staff, and ask what happens to it when you add a branch.

7. Does the doctor need a computer?

Check that the phone app shows the line and the patient's file, on the same data as the desk. A doctor who consults with a phone on the table needs the whole record there. Some phone apps are a separate, smaller product that shows only part of it.

8. Where are the records kept, and who can see them?

Ask where the servers are, whether each staff member has their own login, and whether you can limit what each role sees. A receptionist does not need clinical notes. Be cautious of any vendor that answers this question with only the word “secure”.

9. Can you get your records out?

Ask now how you would export your patient list and your bills, because one day you may change software. If the answer is vague, treat it as a no.

A checklist to take into the demo

1. Ask the vendor to give a walk-in a token while you time it.
2. Ask for a new, empty account set up for your speciality.
3. Book one patient who must come back five times.
4. Make a bill, take half of it by UPI, and find that patient on the list of who owes.
5. Open the same patient's file on a phone.
6. Sign in as a receptionist and see what is hidden from that login.
7. Export the day's bills.

How Curogrid answers these

Curogrid is clinic software for Indian clinics, built around these questions. It has a token line for walk-ins, sets itself up for ten specialities, books a course of visits in one step, records part payments by UPI, cash and card, and has a phone app on the same data as the desk. Each staff member signs in as themselves, and you decide what each role can open. The billing screen has Print and Export buttons.

It costs ₹399 or ₹999 a month for the whole clinic, with a 5-day free trial. It does not yet handle admitted patients and beds, so a hospital should read our hospital page before deciding.