Home Forums Discussions General Discussion 2011 AAFP EMR Poll: We are happy people!

The results of the latest AAFP user survey are out and here is the full text. I think it is worth taking a look. Once again, AC comes out near the top of the list in popularity. While the survey certainly has its flaws, its size and methodology give it some merit. It does a very nice job of graphically representing the results.
A significant number of AC users responded (99). AC clearly appeals to small practices: it looks like 88% were in one or two person groups; 98% in groups of 5 or less. AC is #1 of 30 in the categories of ?highly satisfied with the system? and ?would buy again?. #3 for training and support.
Kudos to AC for each of these results; they are well earned.
I do find some high rankings a little surprising. AC is #2 for ?customization at the user level?, and #3 in ?tools for health maintenance?. I have to think these partially reflect the overall weakness of all EMR?s in those areas. Ordering of labs and tests garner more middle of the pack rankings.
All in all, a great showing for the program and the company. While I don?t think this should stop us from insisting on ongoing improvements in quality, reliability, and flexibility, it does reinforce the idea that the program does the job well. We are far better off than many other docs who spend far more to get far less.

I have now been using Version 6 for a long time and was one of the first users of Version 5 - the HM things are difficult now matter how you do them, I really think all in all many of the new features are good - I think the great thing is that Jon is trying to make things better. I have talked with programmers and Jon at AC and they are genuinely interested and trying to improve things.

I personnally have no problems with orders - reconciliation is a pain and does not work well. I have been using the orders section for so long that it really does work okay.

Hi all,

Probably not the best of times for me to be responding to this, upgraded to v6 this past weekend and have a significant problem with rxing- definitely need either hardware or Windows upgrades.

Up until last week I would have said I was very happy with AC. But just as we are only as good as our last encounter with a patient, AC is only as good as its last upgrade.

It is quite disconcerting that tech support responded with "Its a known issue with Windows XP" after v6 has been out as a beta for several months. Worse, I could not find this issue listed as a known bug on the AC website. Seems to be a failure on 2 levels, first programming then communication.

Would I recommend AC to a friend right now? Not sure.

Gene

So are you having speed issues with ERX ? That is really the only hard thing I have noted and it was fixed with a hardware upgrade (granted I spent 429 per computer for a couple of exam rooms) - you really should not have many other issues.

Steven,

Go to AC website and look at hardware requirements, are these statements accurate? Go to upgrade site, do they list a known XP bug?

I should have known this in advance, not on a Monday morning.

BTW, I think you were the one who suggested graphics cards as a possible problem-thanks!

Gene

I understand - is speed the only bug you are getting ? Hopefully the graphics card will help a lot - I actually did not try this as the computer that is an issue is my front desk and they do not do scrips.

Hi Steven,

Speed of rx writer (not just erx, anytime you open med window very very very slow) is main issue. A few crashes, esp laptops, not sure if there is a pattern here.

Aside from that have not used MU features much, 2 problems so far.

1. Letter writer defaults to printing CCR summary, which is VERY long and

2. CCR summary is VERY long, pts who have been with us for a while may have 10+ pages of labs. Have not found a way to select what is printed.

If your real question is "When his hardware is upgraded and trials of the first week dim in his memory, will this guy be satisfied with v6?" the answer is "Probably." But I will still really really wish that this problem had been corrected prior to official release of v6.

Gene

I understand the CCD issue - AC's MU wizard gives impression that you must print the CCD to comply with the requirement that pt. get information at every visit - I will write them and find out if that is true. I actually have pt who get 40 pages of labs - really great for my paper use.

I understand the issue of the issue with not knowing ahead of time - I am not sure why they did not know/publicize this, but I will admit that no one can test all the permutations of various configurations - if we had macs then you would know the graphics card, etc - unfortunately there are infinite possibilities for different configs on windows.

Steve,
I think there was some confusion on the CCD issue, but that has been dispelled. Core Measure 12 clearly states that you must provide the CCD to "at least 50% of all patients who request an electronic copy of their health information." Someone said it had to be provided to all patients; that is not the case, and I would expect that a very small number will request it. It therefore makes sense to set the default to "no" for providing the CCD (unless it becomes a preference that can be selected).

Hi all,

Perhaps my underlying concern is this. AC has always seemed to care. The "By a physician for physicians" attitude has been wonderful.

At least some of us switching to v6 have significant issues. Lets assume that AC had no idea whatsoever until v6 was officially released, and could not have anticipated this. All doubtful, but lets assume....

Why no warning now? Why not mention a potentially severe speed issue on older XP machines?

I fear the "Sell" attitude may have overtaken the "Care" attitude.

Gene

I work around CCD issue like this:

After clicking print instructions button, instead of clicking print to default printer button, click preview button. Window will open to print instructions which you will want to do. Next window will open to print CCD which you can close without printing (I agree current formatting of CCDs is poor and embarrassing to hand to patients).

AC meaningful use tabulator does credit you for meeting MU criteria when you print instructions this way.