Apex Skin is one of Ohio’s largest dermatology operations, with 52 providers delivering both medical and aesthetic services across more than 30 locations. The practice had built its clinical workflows on eClinical Works for over a decade, which meant 11 years of patient histories, biopsy records, treatment notes, and appointment data lived in a system they were leaving behind.
When leadership decided to move to ModMed, Jessica Biello – serving simultaneously as Director of Patient Care, Vendor Relations lead, and ModMed Administrator – was responsible for making the project happen. She had never managed a conversion this large, and neither had the practice.
Through word of mouth, she found Focus, a healthcare data conversion team with direct experience in both eClinical Works and ModMed.
The only way providers can maintain that relationship with their patients is knowing that when they look at a previous note, they have all the information they need to do their job.
Jessica Biello
Director of Patient Care
The Challenge
What Apex Skin was up against before the conversion
A dermatology practice of this size faces a specific set of risks in any EHR data migration. For Apex, those risks were compounded by scale, clinical complexity, and the fact that this was the practice’s first conversion of this magnitude.
Apex had operated on eClinical Works for 11 years, longer than many staff had been with the practice. That history was embedded in daily clinical decision-making, so the migration needed to preserve continuity without slowing down providers or staff.
What had to be solved
- No prior conversion experience. Apex had operated on eClinical Works for 11 years — longer than many staff had been with the practice. That history was embedded in clinical decision-making every single day.
- Clinical continuity risk was high. With 52 providers spanning general dermatology and aesthetics, even a small gap in migrated data — a missing biopsy result, an incomplete treatment timeline — could directly affect patient care decisions during a visit.
- One person, enormous scope. Jessica was leading the project alongside her other responsibilities. With 30+ locations to account for and no internal playbook, verifying the migration required assembling a small team just to get through the review.
- Provider and staff readiness. Providers and medical assistants needed to know where their data would live in the new system and how to access it quickly during patient appointments. A disorganized handoff would slow down clinic flow.
- Data limitations to plan around. The balance and financial data limitations of any EHR migration needed to be understood and communicated upfront — both to set expectations and to ensure the practice had a plan for anything that couldn’t transfer.
Data limitations also had to be communicated upfront, especially around balances and financial data that typically do not transfer between EHR systems.
I needed to know if it can live in the new EHR system and if you’re not familiar with that EHR system, there’s no over-promising and under-delivery that can happen.
Jessica Biello
Director of Patient Care
How we approached it
How Focus approached the eClinical Works to ModMed migration
Apex Skin selected Focus after comparing several EHR data conversion vendors. While pricing was comparable across options, two things stood out: Focus had hands-on experience with both eClinical Works and ModMed, and the team communicated in a clear, phased, step-by-step way.
Sam, the assigned Delivery Manager, became Jessica’s primary point of contact for the full engagement. The combination of dual-system expertise, transparency about limitations, and practical support for provider readiness made Focus the right fit.
From there, we followed a clear path
- Dual-system expertise. Because Focus had completed conversions on both platforms, they could tell Jessica upfront exactly what would and wouldn’t transfer — preventing over-promising and setting realistic expectations before the project began.
- Phased, clear communication. Rather than presenting the full scope all at once, Focus walked Apex through each phase as it came. This kept Jessica informed without creating decision paralysis around what was weeks away.
- Strategic data organization for clinical access. Sam provided specific guidance on how to label and organize migrated data so providers and medical assistants could surface patient records quickly during appointments — without disrupting clinic flow.
- Provider and staff education. Before go-live, Jessica communicated the full scope of the migration to all 52 providers and their MA teams: what data was coming over, what wasn’t, and how to find everything in ModMed. Focus helped structure this communication plan.
When I tell you that Sam (Delivery Manager) was like my best friend, she was always on it, very thorough, very detailed, but also very fun to work with. There was a relationship and partnership built during this process.
Jessica Biello
Director of Patient Care
What we built together
On-time delivery. The go-live deadline was met as planned.
The conversion came in on schedule. Eleven years of patient records transferred successfully across all providers and locations. Only one issue surfaced after go-live: a single provider noticed a missing chart note setting. Jessica contracted Sam the same day. Focus walked back through the data for that provider, identified the gap, and resolved it immediately.
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Go-live deadline | Met on schedule |
| Years of patient data migrated | 11 years |
| Patient records affected | 30+ location histories |
| Issues identified post-go-live | 1 minor note discrepancy |
| Time to resolution | Same day |
| Clinical continuity | Fully maintained |
Beyond the metrics, Apex came away with a system their providers could actually use from day one. Data was organized for fast access, staff knew where everything lived before go-live, and the client relationship continued beyond project close.
Ready to tackle your EHR data conversion?
If your practice is planning a move from eClinical Works, ModMed, or another EHR system and you need a conversion partner with real healthcare expertise, we should talk.
