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AMA magazine just came in the mail. There is a small article about a government website listing with approved and certified EMR modules. NO AC there. Does anybody know anything about it?
http://onc-chpl.force.com/ehrcert/
I am getting nervous, especially with this price increase.

I talked with Jon this week - if you will notice the government appointed 2 organizations to do meaningful use certification and they certified several of the big name EMRs within one month. Jon made it clear that they are going through the hoops and that AC will be certified - he intends on applying by the end of the year, he basically said at a lecture that of course AC would be certified because if an EMR wanted to stay in business they would have to be.

In regards to the price increase - he really only raised the price by 500 the first year for a single provider practice - was 995 plus 500 support (now just lumps it together) and yes support increased to 1000 per provider per year,but the amount of support has to increase with things like e prescribing, the PM coming, etc. I didn't like the increase either but he should have raised it last year and then again this year - would be the same, but somehow smaller amounts seem easier.

If the program is so good, why does it require so much support? I have been waiting for this PM module for more than a year and now you are suggesting that it will be so poorly executed that I will need even more support?!
I have an iPhone and an iPad. How many times have I called support? Not once. Everyone criticizes Microsoft but they support their products with free updates. I can continue on and on. I almost forgot about office ally. Since there was no PM module this Christmas and that Christmas I had to use it. How many times did I call them for support? Not once. There is no justification for that price increase. They are doing this because they can.

There is a learning curve on all software, and the more complex, the longer it is. The software on the iPad/iPhone is consumer level, low complexity. I don't think most of us have previously used software with the functions provided on typical EMR programs. Once you add in the factors of networking, different hardware, etc., support is a good option to have.

Most of the larger vendors charge several thousands of dollars at start-up just for training on their EMR, and many hundreds per month for support. So the AC charges are very modest.

As for Microsoft, a better comparison would be server software for a network. You will need support, and you will surely pay for it!

John, without weighing in on the price issue, most of us have used Microsoft Office, and it is vastly more complex set of programs. It was also designed and beta tested by a gargantuan organization with tens of millions of users. Perhaps the difference is that my kid was taught Word basics in the 4th grade, and the community college holds courses on Excel every quarter. I just don't need much of its functionality. For a product that started life in Jon Bertman's home study, AC is an impressive piece of work. But in the world of software I don't think it can be called highly complex. The issues that I find I need support with are related to implementation, networking, and office flow, and tech support can't help with that. We have not called tech support since the second or third month we had the program.

All I am trying to say is this: there is no justification for a price increase on support. It is a recurring charge and it hurts. Having said this, I surely appreciate the opportunity to prepay for two years. They did not have to do this, but they did.

I agree that the software itself isn't complex as far as the user interface. But its interaction with the hardware you own, your network, your staff, other programs like the PM you use, Updox or PaperPort, the lab interfaces, all make it (for me) beyond what I've ever encountered in an off the shelf application like Office.

I've had a few situations that tech support has helped me, even with hardware & network issues. But I agree, most of the value of AC's support charge is probably the need to get AC updates keep up with government requirements.

Yes, John, my point exactly. It is not an issue that AC is tough; it is how to get it to work in the real world of our practices, and I find that extremely challenging. This User's group is immensely helpful for that.

A couple of years back I asked one of our local EHR early adopters how it was going. He said fine, but that he spent an average of an hour a day on EHR related issues. I was shocked, and certain he must have gotten some total dog of a program. But you know what? We're right in there with him, and it is not the fault of the program.

Easyrider,
I don't call support much either, but I remind myself that the yearly charge covers program updates as well.

Program updates are going to be extremely important for any EMR program as I suspect all this doctor to hospital to pharmacy to home health to insurer interconnectivity is going to be loaded with errors. Then one companies update will break another companies link and will force another update. We could have amazing charts updates coming out every month or so over the next few years

...Ken

Easyrider,
Ken beat me to it...this is called "support", but we are actually getting a lot more. Upgrades, updates, hopefully fixes to some of the weaker parts of the program will be covered. In a few months we should have a practice management module of AC that should be worth much more than the support increase. There are EMR's that charge $500 A MONTH for this.

I had an EMR (will go unnamed) 6 yrs ago before I got AC, and its support cost me 20% of my original purchase price per year, It was in the thousands of dollars, and it had terrible support, and included 5-6 upgrades / year each with problems of its own each time.

AC has been a dream. I occasionally have had to call support for minor problems regarding integration of some add-ons, or with E-prescribing, and was always treated quickly and fairly. If you consider that the updates are included, and that the people seem to know what they're doing, I am very pleased. The price is well worth the cost of admission. AC has improved my own personal productivity and office flow. My original EHR cost $53,000 ! It was a big failure.

I think the roll out of new version is smoother. They are doing it smarter than previous version rollouts. When I have a problem they have always been responsive and have gotten me a answer. I think that the upgrades since v3.6 when I joined AC 2 1/2 years ago have been good. I have seen a big improvement in what I can do in AC since I started. It has gotten better and I anticipate 5.1 to be better yet with the expected improvements. My IT has been happier with some of the behind the scenes improvements in the way the program operates.