Announcements and postings here have described the Clinical Advisory Board (CAB), a group formed to facilitate communication between AC users and management. The CAB generally meets monthly by phone conference. Last week, eight of the physician members of the group travelled to Boston for a one day face-to-face meeting with people from AC and Pri-Med.
My impression is that many AC users are hungry for information about what is going on with our EMR (especially with regard to product development), and with the company. I am therefore sharing some things that I learned; hopefully this will be of interest. Most of what follows is factual, but some is interpretation that represents my own personal opinion.
1. The Amazing Charts company (now a division of Pri-Med) has changed significantly over the past 18 months. The group has grown substantially in size, with major changes in organizational structure and processes. These changes should significantly facilitate development.
2. One goal is a shorter and more consistent interval between releases. The backlog created by regulatory requirements (MU2 and ICD10) and integrated practice management is finally being cleared. The MU2 certified version (7.1) has been released. (In response to the ongoing "should I upgrade" question: one CAB member described the install of 7.1 as his "easiest, fastest" one to date. I won't fully recommend it until I have tried it, but we plan to upgrade soon. The version seems to have some worthwhile improvements).
3. Later this year, version 8 with integrated practice management will be released. This release also is focused on fixing a few of the longstanding complaints with the current program.
4. A prime development target for next year (2015) is fixing annoying issues that have been present for years.
5. Regarding practice management: the feature list of the AC version with integrated PM looks very good. This will be an AC product; you will deal exclusively with AC for set-up, training, and maintenance issues.
6. Expanding training opportunities for AC users is another priority. This will take a variety of forms.
7. AC is working on a second, cloud-based EMR. This product will be developed as a separate parallel product to AC. It is based upon the concept of the "problem oriented medical record". It has been demo'd to a group of AC users at a regional meeting. Their response was reportedly very positive, as was the reaction of the group at the CAB last week. The first-generation product will be marketed to Direct Primary Care and Concierge Medicine practices to establish an initial toehold in the market.
8. John Squire and the rest of the company are soliciting and incorporating user input into the planning process. They are seeking user input from the CAB, from everyone here on the user board, and from the community as a whole. The proof of this commitment will be seen in upcoming releases. Even then, we will not get all that we want to see in our EMR, but it appears that suggestions and gripes are being heard, prioritized, and addressed.
