Claire,
When When When??? I was ranting and raving how wonderful AC is last night at a medical society meeting with other docs and had to say the only downside was AC not having a PM module. This is really an issue and hope we are not slipping into 2nd quarter this year since we have already had 2 years of delays over this MU stuff, etc...
Jack
Actually Jack the wait has been sort of like since the Middle of 2006 if you want to know the truth. It was middle 2006 that I and a few others here, some still here like Leslie I believe was part of the chorus to at least then, supporting my suggestion that AC attempt to put together an AC version, easy to use and understand PM module to compliment and work with our beloved AC.. The more I learned about interfaces and X-Link and this one's update then messes with the link and other other programs so frequently, the more I felt it was Very Important for AC to include a PM as soon as they could put together something that would fly, not crash and not make folks go broke...
It's been a long time running down since we first started these conversations and suggestions including the Voice on one shoulder "Bert" warning us not to ask for TOO MUCH, and to be careful of what you ask for, because you just might get it, and then nice smooth and easy to live with and work with AC might not really resemble our once beloved AC anymore....
Psychic that guy Bert sometimes I think. IMHO, when the first Versions of 6 started to mess up so many User Board members (who tend to be a bit more savvy as evident by their coming here, sharing and attempting to self help when they can) systems and offices with the super crawl slow down problems... I could hear Bert's voice (and I do actually know what he sounds like too!!! :-) in my head warning me and other "Wish Listers" begging for a decent PM to be careful what we ask for, because we just might get it...
And after so many other users (NOT US BTW) started to pressure Jon I gather, along with the gov't changing the rules of the game with the EMR incentives perhaps to mess with the smaller vendors like AC and Jon, to the benefit of Corporate Welfare for the larger more expensive vendors who might have been able to contribute more campaign dollars and have "better access" and not to primary care either.... Jon felt he had no choice but to do Meaningless Use or Die. I for one understand that and that was probably the best if not the only viable long term solution for Jon to keep AC relevant and with paying customers coming thru the door... It probably did save AC the company which might have found itself all alone in the Dumpster of has been EMR's with many others that have come and gone already....
Iacocca and FIAT have saved Chrysler twice now (last time from its own destructive eat its young adoptive parent that bled it dry when it's RAM's and Jeeps were hot but never seemed to allow it to share properly in that return by reinvesting in keeping up its product line and tech edge over the other big 3... But was K-Car, no more Muscle Cars at all, no Challenger or Swingers, or Duster Mopar Chrysler really the same Die Hard Mopar fans concept of Mother Mopar or Chyrsler??? And until the first Grand Cherokee's with Magnums and the RAM's came about, the answer was clearly NO... More recently things have started to look a bit more like something a true Mopar fan would see as his favorite Best Engineering, fun to throw around company again....
And so what is the state of post Meaningless Uselessness AC much like Mother Mopar's three modern day incarnations??? I think by allowing us the ability to turn on registries, connections to REC's and RUC's, and MU collection garbage, while in many ways the main components of AC still sort or resemble good old V's 3 and 4 of pre SQL and Pre MU, E Rx'ing AC, that considering the situation, it seems to me that Jon and his team did the best they could under the conditions and requirements as they were laid out by the federal gov't....
And using my other example of Chrysler, Mopar post the Iacocca glove save in terms of the dropping of solid lines and the swap out to more modern (Yuk!!!) K-Cars and Mini Vans (remember who introduced and started the front wheel drive Mini Vans, Mopar and Iacocca did. One of the most profitable and purchased line of vehicles ever and started an entire new category, class as well) I feel AC has done a much better job of attempting to retain much of it original look and feel that older users came to feel so comfortable with, love and highly recommend to others out there. Sort of an EMR version of Apple and I Pods and the like...
But Bert's warning to all of us way back then is so worth repeating here again... "We all better be careful of what we ask for because we just might get..... And it just might not feel or look like the good old easy to use and keep up with AC we all have come to know and love so much today"
The older you get the more sensable your parents seem to become...
Thanks Poppa Bert!!!
Paul
