James:
That is exactly how Taurin Maini at CTECHUS.com says it will work. He calls it a "tight integration":
"Synchronization and clean-up of demographics, insurance, appointment, referring data in both AMD and AC (duplicates elimination as well). Integration build (any special rules and exceptions can be included)... will cover hosting of secure FTP, any reasonable upgrades, version changes by AC and/or AMD) etc."
At his request, I will not post his quote.
Obviously I would prefer to pay less, provided I get the same support / service. You mention: "you may be able to get a third party developer to make a custom solution for you that would be cheaper than X-LINK or CTECH." Do you know any third parties I could contact?
Thanks!