Home Forums Discussions Problems Prescribing problems

Hi ACZ,

Let me try to track some of these issues with you since you are new and don't know all of the history.


First, let me tackle this one. Amazing Charts has improved dramatically with an increase in support and by the hiring of the main program developer Chris Conrad. But, the issue AC has always had and kept if from far outdistancing the category of EMRs for small and medium business models has been in communication and support. Support has IMPROVED dramatically over the past three years as you can tell by people like Mark@AC and others who frequent the board. Always keep in mind that if you don't take your improvement or suggestion or bug report to Help >> Recommended improvements >> and then your comments -- they will not be seen by the person who needs to see it: Chris Conrad and development. Case in point: I am the number one C & B (complainer and bitcher, lol) on the board (please not comment from Chris C.) but I have as yet to ever ask for or report anything through the proper channels. So while Mark@AC can give instant feedback and help and I know they will address some concerns with the development team, that is not in their job description.


I am not a big fair on how the ePrescriber worked in the upgrade but I have gotten used to it. For me, the big change is when you change the pharmacy and not being able to see the complete pharmacist once you load the script. But, answering this from the perspective of your being new, the script writer has improved dramatically in the past six to seven years. The main thing is it consistently works. Yes, the choosing of a med in your med list and starting its refill changes it to zero which makes matters difficult, i.e. it shouldn't even begin to change until you send it. It would be nice to have on it: First prescribed, last prescribed and date of new prescription. I have learned to inactive it and write the script over.

I HATE TO WRITE IN ALL CAPS, BUT A LOT OF YOUIR OBSERVATIONS ARE BASED ON THE DIRECITON OF AC TO NC TO SURESCRIPTS WHEN IT IS THE OTHER WAY AROUND. If you take nothing away from any of this is is SURESCRIPTS[color:#990000][/color] THAT IS THE GOD!! OF EVERYTHING PRESCRIPTIONS. They are the onles making us write milliliters or, in general, give a UOM. Not AC. Then AC has to scramble to catch up with this. The new mandate coming down the pipeline one I predicted years ago is that tsp and tablespoon will no longer be accepted and AC, once again, will have to change their coding. It is SureScripts that mandated codified scripts over non-codified non-NDC rated scripts. Keep in mind that when codified first came out users had hundreds of patients with thousands of meds ALL of which were uncodified. Each time we have to choose codify just this drug vs codify all drugs. You can see how codifying amoxicillin to amoxicillin all of the amoxicillins was helpful but if you screwed up and did all and entered the wrong codify, then all Seroquels were changed to Abilify. It took roughly two to four months to get them all codified. This was a SureScripts mandate, not AC.


The frustrating yet different things people face seem to be things that pop up for certain users. No doubt the script writer could be better, but it is the single most difficult part of the program that AC has to continually code. One thing you didn't have to live through was THE INFAMOUS 15 to 20 second lag time in sending a script. Trust me, it was bad, but fixed.


This is why we say gremlins. Because certain things happen to certain people. I haven't seen this huge codify problem and certainly not the one you just described. One thing developers will always say, "It is difficult to fix something that is not reproducible. I have an issue that 8,000 doctors don't have: the immediate disappearance of certain sigs which seems to be directly proportional to the complexity of the sig. So, I will write, "Intuniv 1 mg capsules, Sig: 1 po for seven days, then call for refill." Because Intunive is dosed in seven-day increments of 1 mg to 2 mg etc. but only after seven days. Well when I go to write 7 in the dispense field, the sign disappears. Once this gremlin infiltrated that prescription I realize it has enough gremlin power to do it three times so I fool it by write ths sig, and slowly (I do not wish to wake up the gremlin) and copy to the clipboard the sig. Interestingly it seems to send the gremlin away. To this day, support and development can't reproduce it.


I have to give some background here as well as pat myself on the back once and Ruben 10 times. AC decided to move a lot of their infrastructure of the code to new servers. In doing so, the ACUB Amazing Charts User Board was not going to be carried over, and one of the great things about AC was/is its user board. Posts from years and years were going to be destroyed. I instantly started the new board providing the financing and time to set up the host and domain and sending out emails to all current users. I need a support tech to do the logistics and fine-tuning of the board, make sure it was up to date, and give it the polished shine it has today. Since then the Amazing Charts User Forum ACUF has an annual ACUF-boardathon with users donating toward the cost. You will see the coin next to their avatar.

At the top you can read about the board and how AC does not have anything to do with it at all. It is completely separate. I will admit that the old board had moved a bit from mostly positive comments to AC bashing. We have tried to change that narrative here and I think we have been successful. We invited AC to take part on the board as before. Mark@AC is sort of the default support engineer who follows the board ON TOP OF HIS DUTIES AT AC. He gets to compensation for this. He can help you on the board. He can take back ideas. But, the best way to do this is with the method described at the top.

There was a time and maybe still is when people were very disappointed with AC/Harris and still are. A lot of things were different when Jon Bertman (an amazing person who wrote the code for the original AC) when it went to PriMed. A lot of us were nervous about the change ot Harris as they do look at the bottom line. But, I think AC has made significant changes for the better.

You should have seen the pace and lack of forward development in the company when Chris Conrad was named the head of the development team. One thing you will find and what you are experiencing right now is that Chris' philosophy on new developments and features are based solely on the number of those asked for and not the acuity of the problem. So, if 100 users ask for a different color skin and one person mentions a horrible logistical problem with the script writer. I don't agree with this at all, but that is the way it is not to say that your ideas don't count.

Remember SureScripts is the huge company that is the Internet backbone and company that decided UOM, codification and change of tsps to 5 mLs MUST happen. NewCrop, like a small ISP that takes your prescriptions from AC to SureScripts can f...k things up as well. But with version 4.2, NC will be gone. I expect some issues with the new script writer without NC and Chris expects some whining from me. He has earphones with noise cancelling and Bert whine cancelling features.

So, don't give up on AC. The forum, while pointing out issues and being downright anti-AC at times has become much more positive. Whether AC recognizes how many users they get from the board is something I don't know. But, I hope some of this helps.

CAVEAT: Then general gist of this reply is correct. Some details are wrong, and I hope to be corrected.

PS: I have taken the liberty to make two changes in your preferences that will be very helpful. Please change back and scold me for doing so if you did not want it this way:

1. I changed your preferences so that when you get an private message, you get an email.
2. HUGE I changed your preferences so that when someone comments on a new post or forum you are in you will get an email.

As it is now, you will have no way of knowing about this post (well now you will).

Mark@AC may see your comment about NC in the Shout box, but he is likely following this thread and would see that there was a post and read it.

Also, in your profile in signature if you put your real first name at the top and save it we can call you by that name and not call you ACZ.

Finally, I friended you and followed you so I will know of any posts you make so I can see your viewpoint and maybe help.