monthly burn $459 annual: $5,508

EMR / Practice Management

Typical range: $149 - $700/month

Hero EMR at $349/month replaces EMR + billing + phone + communication tools.

Billing Service

Typical range: $500 - $2,500/month (or 4-8% of collections)

Hero EMR's integrated billing achieves 98% first-pass rate. Most solo docs don't need a separate service.

Phone / Answering

Typical range: $200 - $800/month

Hero EMR includes a 24/7 AI phone agent. Saves $2,400-$9,600/year.

Patient Communication

Typical range: $100 - $400/month

Built into Hero EMR. Standalone tools create data silos and require patients to download yet another app.

Internet

Typical range: $80 - $200/month

Business-grade primary + cellular backup. Redundancy is worth the cost.

Fax

Typical range: $20 - $50/month

SRFax at $30/month. Simple, reliable, HIPAA-compliant.

Security

Typical range: $0 - $50/month

Bitwarden ($10) + Cloudflare Zero Trust (free). Most security essentials are free or cheap.

Accounting

Typical range: $0 - $50/month

Wave (free invoicing) + QuickBooks Self-Employed ($15/month).

Website

Typical range: $0 - $50/month

Squarespace ($16/month) for a simple, fast practice site. Don't over-engineer it.

Approach Monthly Cost Annual Cost Tools to Manage
Separate tools (typical) $2,500 - $4,000 $30,000 - $48,000 6 - 10
Hero EMR consolidated $500 - $700 $6,000 - $8,400 3 - 5