| Feature | Hero EMR | OP | PCC | athena | DrChrono |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WHO Charts (< 2 yrs) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CDC Charts (2+ yrs) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Auto Chart Switch by Age | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Chart Annotation | Yes | Limited | Yes | No | No |
| Parent-Friendly Print | Yes | Yes | Yes | Basic | Basic |
| BMI Percentile Tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Head Circumference | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Growth Velocity | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Overlay Multiple Children | No | No | No | No | No |
| Preemie Adjusted Age | Yes | Yes | Partial | No | No |
| Specialty Charts (Down Syndrome, etc.) | Yes | Yes | Partial | No | No |
| Visual Quality (1-10) | 9.5 | 8.5 | 9.0 | 6.5 | 7.5 |
Growth charts are to pediatricians what EKGs are to cardiologists: a clinical tool we interpret dozens of times daily, one where the quality of the visual display directly affects our diagnostic accuracy and our ability to communicate with families. Yet when most EMR platforms design their growth chart modules, the result often feels like an afterthought, a generic plotting library dropped into the clinical interface with minimal consideration for how pediatricians actually use these charts. Our team set out to evaluate growth chart rendering across five leading EMR platforms, measuring not just whether they can display growth data, but how well they do it and how the experience integrates into the clinical workflow.
Why Rendering Quality Matters
A growth chart is not just a graph. It is a clinical narrative told in curves and percentiles, and the ability to read that narrative at a glance depends on visual clarity, accurate percentile lines, intuitive data point placement, and the capacity to spot subtle trends that signal clinical concern. A child who drops from the 50th percentile to the 25th percentile over three visits may be following a normal growth pattern or may be showing early signs of failure to thrive, and the difference between catching that trend and missing it often comes down to how clearly the chart presents the data. Equally important is the ability to use growth charts in parent conversations. When a concerned parent asks whether their child is "growing normally," the chart on your screen becomes a shared visual tool for education and reassurance. A clean, readable chart builds confidence; a cluttered or poorly rendered one creates confusion.
Platform-by-Platform Evaluation
Hero EMR: Setting the Standard
Hero EMR delivers growth chart rendering that feels purpose-built for the pediatric workflow. Charts load instantly within the encounter note, display crisp percentile lines against a clean background, and plot data points with clear visual markers that distinguish between different measurement types. The automatic transition from WHO to CDC charts at age 2 happens seamlessly, without requiring any provider action, and the system handles the visual continuity of this transition gracefully. What particularly impressed our reviewers was the annotation capability: you can add clinical notes directly on the chart (such as noting a dietary change or illness that explains a growth dip), and these annotations persist across visits, building a visual clinical narrative alongside the growth data. The parent-friendly print output is genuinely useful, with clear labels and a design that parents can understand without medical training. Growth velocity calculations appear alongside the standard charts, offering an additional dimension of assessment that several of our reviewers found valuable for identifying subtle deceleration patterns. Specialty charts, including those for Down syndrome, Turner syndrome, and achondroplasia, are available natively and render with the same visual quality as the standard charts. For premature infants, the system automatically applies corrected gestational age until the appropriate threshold.
PCC: Clean and Clinically Useful
PCC has long been recognized for its growth chart quality, and our evaluation confirms that reputation. The charts render cleanly with well-defined percentile bands, and the direct annotation feature allows providers to add context that enriches the longitudinal growth record. PCC's chart display is slightly less visually refined than Hero EMR's but remains well above average. The parent print output is clear and professional. Specialty charts are partially supported, covering the most common conditions but missing some of the rarer growth standards. Corrected age for premature infants is supported but requires manual activation in some configurations, which our reviewers found to be an occasional workflow friction point.
Office Practicum: Solid Foundation
Office Practicum's growth charts are functionally strong, displaying accurate data against proper WHO and CDC standards with automatic chart switching by age. The visual rendering is clean though not as polished as Hero EMR or PCC, with percentile lines that are occasionally difficult to distinguish in the middle ranges. Annotation capability is limited to text notes attached to data points rather than freeform chart markup. Specialty charts are well-supported, reflecting OP's deep pediatric roots. The parent print output is clear and includes helpful explanatory text about what percentiles mean, which is a thoughtful touch for family communication.
athenahealth: Functional but Clinical
athenahealth's growth charts display the necessary data but do so with a clinical austerity that reflects the platform's general-purpose orientation. The charts are accurate but visually dense, with percentile lines that can be hard to read quickly during a busy clinic day. There is no automatic WHO-to-CDC transition; providers must select the appropriate chart type manually, which adds a small but repeated friction to the workflow. Annotation is not supported, and the print output, while functional, is not designed with parent readability in mind. Specialty charts and corrected gestational age calculations are not natively available and would require workaround solutions.
DrChrono: Tablet-Optimized
DrChrono's growth charts benefit from the platform's tablet-first design philosophy, rendering in a format that looks good on an iPad screen and is natural to show parents during a visit. The visual quality is above average, with clear data point markers and readable percentile bands. However, the desktop rendering is less impressive, and the chart lacks the annotation and specialty chart capabilities that the top pediatric platforms provide. The automatic WHO-to-CDC transition is not supported, and corrected gestational age for premature infants requires manual calculation and data entry.
Our Verdict
Growth chart rendering may seem like a minor feature in the grand scheme of EMR evaluation, but for pediatricians who consult these charts many times every day, the quality of the display has a real impact on clinical efficiency and family communication. Hero EMR leads our evaluation with the most complete and visually refined growth chart implementation, followed closely by PCC. Office Practicum offers a solid foundation that benefits from its pediatric-only focus. General-purpose platforms like athenahealth and DrChrono lag behind in ways that reflect their broader design priorities. If growth chart quality matters to your practice, and for pediatricians it should, prioritize the platforms that take this essential tool seriously.