Home Forums Discussions General Discussion GloStream

The docotr I am working with has approached me with GloStream after several months of me researching and working with AC. Does anybody have any knowledge of this other EMR? I really like AC so far. But, I am not the doctor. Any info. would help.

I took a look at their website. I am always a little leery about any product online that doesn't advertise their prices. Go to www.amazingcharts.com and the first thing you see is the price.

I applaud you for spending several months researching and working with AC. I don't know the situation, but I would be a little resentful if I put that much time into looking at an EMR only to have my boss want me to test drive another one. It should only take about three to four weeks at the most to fully check out Amazing Charts.

It sounds as if you are a very conscientious MA. But, as you stated, you are not the doctor. Given that it should be the physician who ultimately decides on an EMR, I am at a loss as to why he or she is not doing the research.

I went to their web site also and I agree with Bert I was immediately turned off by having to submit my info in order to learn their info. And, I do not want anybody contacting me trying to sell me their product. I was immediately attracted to AC because they let me download a trial with no other strings attached. Then when I was ready, I paid for it. No heavy sales pitches

Its going to be a really expensive emr. That is almost always the case when they dont put any pricing information on the website. This is the first I've heard of them though.

Leslie, Hi!

You could also go by the names:

Amazing Charts (Charts makes sense)
eClinicalWorks (Clinical makes sense and they throw in the verb, works)
NextGen (kind of saying it is the next generation of EMRs)
eMDs (obvious)

Then there is:

GloStream (umm....?)

See if you can find a forum! Likely IF they have any customers, and the customers have a forum, you won't be able to get on the forum without the parent companies permission. (like eClinical) That is usually so the potential customer won't find out about the lousy support or problems in the software. If you can't find a forum see if you can find the name cropping up on any other forums, (facebook etc.) you might find some candid comments in that way.

Doesn't sound very warm and fuzzy to me though!

Well, to be fair, it may be a very good EMR. And, I must apologize about my name post as they actually go by gloEMR. Still, a weird name.

I read a few blogs, and apparently unless things have changed, they are the only EMR and PM company that has partnered with Microsoft Office. Microsoft calls it SaaS or Software as a Service. It sounds interesting, but to be able to use Microsoft Office in your EMR, the licensing would have to be a bit pricey.

http://www.glostream.com/emr-electronic-medical-records-software-glostream-and-microsoft

On the website it said the name was from GLObal STREAMing of information or something like that. Martin, nice idea to look for a forum.

I am a little concerned by the "What doctors say" webpage, frankly. The testimonials all claim that the doctors using gloEMR are leaving an hour early and were up to the full patient workload in 3 to 4 days after "going live" with gloEMR.

This has not been my experience with any of the EMRs that any of my colleagues or I have tried. The time investment increases and the productivity dips for a variable time, usually for weeks after starting a new EMR. I think multiple studies have shown the same pattern across many EMRs.

So either gloEMR has found the answer that has escaped everyone else, or... "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Besides the bombast above, as mentioned, I am also concerned about the lack of pricing on the website, the poor screenshots, and no demo unless you submit your contact info to a sales person. All major warning signs.

Hmm, the plot thickens. One of the endorsing doctors, Dr. Samani states “Since implementing gloEMR, we’ve removed virtually all paper from our office and the chart chase has come to an end." Elsewhere on the 'net, we find that "Dr. Samani serves as a medical advisor to gloStream, Inc., an electronic medical records software provider based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich."

I'd like to second what Ryanjo said in the first of his posts. AC IS very intuitive and fairly straightforward; BUT the switch to an EMR requires a really radical shift in the workload of the entire office. Unless you are already on one EMR and merely looking for a better one, it would be folly to think that you will just step into it, no matter what. We've been using AC 3 weeks. We have held office meetings every noon hour since we started to discuss office flow issues. Today was my first even faintly normal patient load, and I am whipped, despite going in at 6:00 AM to preload patient information. We still are not scanning, we have not totally integrated the lab and fax system, and the schedule is still partly on the old system. There are hundreds of permutations and combinations of issues, and "who is going to do what" questions that need to be addressed. All of this given that we were already using speech recognition into an electronic record storage system with electronic prescribing and did not have to be learning that. Six months from now, this will be wonderful, but don't let your boss get suckered into thinking it will be easy.

algt0404,

It would be nice to know your name, but I think everyone appreciates that you have chosen to look at AC as a possible EMR solution for your practice. I think we have all kind of jumped on the GloStream aspect rather than talking about AC. Of course, you did ask us about it. It appears that none of us have even heard of it, much less used it. That doesn't mean it isn't a good EMR. Just be careful as some of these EMRs that have all the bells and whistles and promise you the world are really a wolf in sheep's clothing and can actually make your work day even longer. Some of these EMRs are so complex that the company requires you to be trained. This training can cost upwards of $10,000 in and of itself. That is more than a doctor would pay for AC in ten years.

So, I know I can speak for everyone here that Amazing Charts is probably your best option. It's a great EMR and the best value out there. And, it just works. But, to be fair, I did look at quite a few EMRs before settling on AC. But, as you know from medicine, you have to see a lot of normal findings before you know what abnormal is. And, it may be helpful for your boss to try the bloated expensive EMRs that sell you a $40,000 EMR by promising you that you will get that money back from the incentive program. Well, then you break even. If you get it with AC, you are $40,000 richer.

I, again, am glad your looking at AC and will help in any way. I wish I could be more helpful on GloStream, but I just know nothing about it.

But, I have to be blunt again, and say that the best way for your doctor to know about GloStream is to go to:

http://www.glostream.com/about-glostream-emr-software-company-locations-contact-us

and sign up to get a trial. And, again, he needs to use it. When you go out to buy a car, you test drive it yourself. You don't send someone else.

And, lastly, you must realize we are all biased on here.

Glo has some videos they posted on Youtube.

Well, at least NoStream (damn, I hate those Freudian slips)has Microsoft Office built in. I guess that would fix the letter writer.

Want to see a real waste of time. Start watching the GloStream video on Youtube that's supposed to tell you something about their emr. At least the one I tried to watch.

Ok, thank you all for your input.... GloStream sent a sales person out Thursday and did the pitch... It was amazing!!! As amazing as Amazing charts.... I really didnt see a big difference. There were a few things that they tried to twist us into thinking it was better. But, overall.... I am happy with AC and its capabilities. We will have to purchase Dragon dictate or something alike but even after that we... opps.Doc won't be paying near as much!!!! I mean thousands saved! I won't bore you all with the details of the meeting, lets just say I yawned a hundred times. But, I am glad Doc is researching now. A little too late, but it is progress. We purchased AC about two months ago. Still have not utilized it. I am encouraging him to get on here and chat away with all of you. Local doctors have offered assistance. I am hopeful that he will put his guard down a little. Thank you all again.
I may be "just" a medical assistant, but after this I feel like I could teach everybody about EMR's.
Glo= shinning their light on everbody.....

If you can get AC up and running and just implement it at the front desk for scheduling (of course dual to what you are doing) he might take the bite and want to see AC in action.

Almost any system is going to require computers in the rooms. So this is the next thing to convince him. He has already made the outlay for AC, might as well use it.

Go Ahead! Bore us with the details! Come on!

Bert>>> I read a few blogs, and apparently unless things have changed, they are the only EMR and PM company that has partnered with Microsoft Office. Microsoft calls it SaaS or Software as a Service. It sounds interesting, but to be able to use Microsoft Office in your EMR, the licensing would have to be a bit pricey.

Sounds to me like a lot of Microsoft-association hype. The GloStream (GS) folks are trying to use the Microsoft name and the Microsoft Office fame as a way to market their services. AC was originally developed using MS Access and the code was originally VBA, but now has upgraded to SQL. It's still "Microsoft" based software, except that it's now a client-server EMR ("ASP") architecture, which is what I personally would prefer to OWN. Yes- OWN, not RENT.

With the SaaS architecture, you end up with a RENT-as-you-go website/internet based solution which can offer certain offices some benefits, including decreased cost both on the software side (since you are RENTING) and on the hardware side (since you don't have to have a back-end server). The yearly costs, though, will amount to about $6000 per year, and it'll be ongoing as long as you use the software. All of your patient records are off-site, so if the company goes belly-up you lose all of your data.

The hosted/RENTED gloStream EMR solution would most likely cost between $250 to about $600 per month, from what I've seen advertised from other CCHIT certified SaaS EHR systems.

>>> (from GS EMR website): "a proprietary implementation process that has given gloStream a 100 percent success rate compared to an industry failure rate that averages 30-40 percent." http://www.softwareadvice.com/medical/glostream-glosuite-profile/

Yup, the industry standard for failure rate is high, and in some reports, over 50%. Not even AC, with its easy to use interface will ever achieve a 100% success rate!

>>> Local support – 24/7

Oops- a bit of an "untruth" there. I couldn't help but to call at 10:24pm ET to their 24/7 "Talk to an Expert" to test their "24/7" support and the recording simply asked me to leave my personal information so that they can call me back on the next working day since it was "after hours." I called to try to get some pricing information. algt0404- can you fill in the pricing information, or at least let us know if it fell inside the $250-$600 industry standard window? I'm very curious...

Al

GloStream has "customized" pricing. Depending on what they have to do to set up your custom EMR, how many files thay have to transfer from the previous EMR..... I heard a number, but we all know how things go when you overhear.... 15Gs. I think that was the start up.
Our office is so small.... We have maybe 500 patients. We do not deal with any insurances. So, to spend so much, I feel, would be bad business.

It depends on the type of file. Are they talking about paper files or digital files. I assume the first since you don't have any digital files. If you are talking digital, then it costs the same for one file as it does for 1,000.

$15,000 is way too much. This is where they get you. Once they get $15,000, they have made their money even if you never update or use their product.

FYI: Bert's opinion ahead: I would go with AC. But, given the fact that there are hundreds of EMRs, all overprices, but all which do great things if you want to pay for them, I am not sure why we are focusing so much on GloStream, other than your boss liked it.

I guess I am, well I know I am a control freak, but I simply don't know why the physician is not looking at these. No offense to you, but he/she will be the ultimate person using the program.

Although I have not researched GloStream, one really critical thing will be the availability of getting your data OUT if you change programs. We have gone through several office management programs, and more than one held us hostage until we paid a really exorbitant fee to retrieve our data. The worst one was a system that was housed on a remote server, where we could not just run the new and old systems in parallel for a while. After that, I vowed never to have a system that I did not own, hardware and software, and could not get my data out cleanly. Big fees for import may mean even bigger fees for export, when the REALLY have you by the short hairs.

David,

And, hence the major discussion many of us had with Jon when he was rewriting the EULA agreement for AC. Many of us had the same concerns. Jon assured us our data was ours and could be retrieved without confrontation should any of us have a falling out. Another major plus for AC.

I do think since the early days of Logician Internet, which became Medscape Encounter, where they went under and took the data with them, physicians have been much more careful with ASPs.

I personally wouldn't use an online electronic medical record UNLESS I could download my data daily.

$15K to start up a solo practitioner's office?! Wow! And no software to actually install either. So they still have "Highwaymen" in the US I guess. Yes, this price seems considerably higher than one would expect.

And Al called them on the 24/7 support. LOL. That needs to be cited in an EMR review someplace.

I've become a kind of Hellhound At The Door protecting Alice from not-quite-honest sales pitches, so when something looks fishy to me and then someone shines the light of truth on it, I kind of cackle with evil glee. I mean righteous glee. I mean....

I researched. I pleaded my reasoning. I stated the facts. I do believe I just won!!!!! We will find out today the "customized price". But, I feel strongly that I have convinced the Doc to stay with AC.

oh, I am so curious to find out the "customized price." Please tell us when you get the figure. And tell us what it includes. To compare, you can go to, I think its SoapWare, and see what their prices are online for some different configurations.

Doc never got a call back from the sales guy with a price. Doc decided to not mess with them anymore due to their lack of service. So, we are staying with AC. Getting Dragon Dictate soon. I am so happy. Thank you all for the support. With some of your comments I was able to make the doctor think more about AC. Very helpful. Thought I was going into heart attack mode for a while.... Being 25, that is not good!!!! Thanks again