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Got an email from JB over the weekend letting me know that they are working on multiple location ability for version 7 which will be ready for February! I hope it works as I just opened a satellite office and it is a pain to have the first office on the super bills!

February of what year I wonder?

lol ...2012 is what i am told..i am trying to change my ways and be optimistic

Any bets on Feb 2012?

Is this an over under kind of thing?

I'm not sure what the spread is for Feb 2012. Should we start a pool?

I think Vegas would have to set some pretty high odds to get many people to vote on February.

Software calendars are different from the rest of the standard Julian everyone else uses. Could it be Mayan, I think they had 13 months to their calendar. Maybe it's from Vulcan and they got lost in a time warp.

Anyway 2/12 by my calendar is only 6 months away and they have not tacked down V6, much less the PM for V7. That sounds real ambitious.

My only wish is that someone would come on and say the prescription writer and Star Printer are very buggy. We know this and will fix this in the next update.

The timetable for the PM is a concern. I am debating whether to upgrade Medisoft or not in order to meet the 5010 requirements. It would be nice to have an integrated EHR/PM format.

I too am considering another office, but unsure how to best have AC running simultaneously at multiple locations (and running well). I wonder if a hosted version of AC is in the works. That might be something to pursue.

A hosted office of AC would be a disaster. Sorry.

The best way to run AC at two offices is to use a Terminal Server period. It would help to have a good server for the program and a decent computer running Terminal Server. In this way, multiple users could use AC from the remote office at the same time running the application on the Terminal Server from your server.

I wouldn't try VPN, VNC, LMI, GTMP or any other. This is pretty much the best way to go.

Once you decide to go this way, hire someone to set it up. It's not that difficult, but there are the minor issues that you may not be familiar with.

There is a saying that many do not heed on here:

If you want to make money, do what you do best, and everything you don't know, you should leave to the rest.

I have a guy who helps me who has 30 years of network experience where setting that up and giving advice would be like installing AVG to you.

Bert, why do you say that?

Because, we all know that we have issues, say prescription writer or II folders, II period. Now, we can decide to do workarounds or not upgrade.

If AC were to host AC, we would be at the mercy of how each build came out. I could just see users scrambling for support when AC had a bug. Maybe it would be easier for them to fix the bug right there and not have to put out a new edition. But, I thought everyone wanted their own program and not ASP version.

I would like the simplicity that a hosted EMR would provide. But the devil is in the details. My billing program is cloud based, at the mercy of the cable internet, and is often glitchy on its own. My office manager often has to do the tech support tango -- "it's not us, it's your internet connection."

I agree, and my guess is Practice Fusion runs rather smoothly. I just think, and I mean no ill will from this statement, but the track record of AC would make me very leery of working in the cloud.

I wasn't thinking of having AC be the host. I was thinking of an independent tech company/person who would "vet" "upgrades" and install them when appropriate. Some support might still come from the company, but any support related to networking issues would be managed by a third party. This would clearly be more expensive than managing the program on our own, but might be appealing to a user who wants to spend their time seeing patients rather than dealing with tech issues.

While I will be purposely opaque as to details, I can confirm that there is a environment implemented and already operational that offers a high-performing platform in operation for AC in multiple locations.

There is the additional capability to have the database and imported items copied down on a regular basis so that the practice can fail-over to the practice location in the event of a connection outage.

So, it has been done, and is running, this I know.

I'm putting my bet on February 29, 2012.

Is there a leap year this year?

The prescription writer and Star Printer are very buggy. We know this and will fix this in the next update.

I have already committed a couple of nice bottles of wine to the group at Tahoe (indirectly courtesy of Medicare. It will come from the recently received eRx incentive).

I will hereby promise to send a bottle to John if V7 is out in general release by Leap Day, 2012.

Now, are you both happy?

My only wish is that someone will come on and say we had no idea that the Star Printer and prescription writer sucked. But, now that we know, I doubt we will fix it.

Star Printer - we have no record of a Star Printer - perhaps you are mistaken. This printers are not the ones you are looking for us to support.

<Jedi Mind Trick>

"Strange I don't remember owning a droid...."

You guys crack me up!

"Your Jedi mind tricks do not work on me"

(I don't have a Star Printer, sorry Bert)

Death sticks anyone?

Gene

So, to attempt to put this subject back on track [a little], how do you move between multiple sites?
<>transporter - Scottie at the helm
<>blacked-out SUV - gun-truck optional
<>Town-car - keeping it US and low key
<>Your med-school Corolla - because you're still paying for school
<>Mule - peak oil and all that

I'd ask the related question; how do you move documents. templates, shared files between locations?

Actually your quote is almost correct.

Politicians form a group to gather a committee to conduct a study for a proposal to evaluate the necessity of buying more tunnel.

Can someone direct me to VPN documentation? Our practice has 2 locations. Currently we are set up with server at each practice and a vpn tunnel between the two servers.
One server has AC installed while other practice would access AC remotely via VPN tunnel. However it does not seem to work and we have spent extensive time and money on installing server/vpn and services.
The network specialist is recommending to switch from SERVER Terminal service set up to Remote Desk Top setup. I just want to be able to review VPN setup documentation/guidelines for optimal setup instead of continuing to experiment and loose valuable time and dollars.
Thanks.

Here is a site that might help.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/network/bb545442
I am confused as to why do you need 2 SERVERS?
Your satellite office can access your main server via REMOTE DESKTOP & it will not cost you anything besides ofcourse setting up your main server for your workstations & your satllite office by your IT guy.
Hope this helps
Grenville

If both offices are open at the same time, check out terminal servers. If only one office is open at a time, remote desktop/remote web workplace is recommended. VPN isn't recommended for AC as you would need a fast and stable connection for it to run smoothly. SBS 2011 Premium would be my recommendation for terminal servers as you get the the RWW and a terminal server. SBS 2011 Standard if you only need RWW. This will get you sharepoint and exchange as well. Since you already have 2 servers, all you need is the software. Get SBS 2011 Premium on one and the TS on the other. This consumes significantly less bandwith than a VPN solution.

I hate to be blunt here, but if you aren't familiar with VPNs and such, then I wouldn't continue to try to do it by yourself. Your network specialist (I really think people should verify what they mean by network specialist) should be able to set this up.

First, VPN is an acronym that should be deleted from everyone's mind. Don't get me wrong, it is great when used in the right place, but everyone thinks that a VPN is the end all and be all of remote networking. It is much too slow as Sandeep says.

You do NEED two servers. You do not want people logging into the main server, plus you would not be able to use multiple connections.

Basically, it is set up like this. You have your regular network at the main office with a server/client setup. AC and SQL would be installed on that server. Then you set up a second server as a terminal server. You must have licenses for the OS and those who log in. The beauty of this is the terminal server accesses AC on the server and then allows each user from the remote office to log in to AC via the terminal server as if it is their own AC and AC connection.

There are multiple ways to go, but, in my opinion, using a terminal server and Remote Desktop Protocol or RDC as it is now referred to is the best way to do this. You do not need a server at the remote site.

I would go through the phone book and fine a computer store with networking that uses Microsoft Certified Technicians to set this up.

That makes no sense. A terminal server just allows you to have multiple remote connections whether you use RDP (preferred) or LMI or whatever.

VPNs are good for large corporations with DS3 and above lines. They have dedicated lines with 45 mbps up and down, very high reliability. The minimum for these lines is 2000 and varies greatly with location. Up to 12,000 dollars sometimes. For your average Amazing Charts user, I assume we use some form of residential ISPs or something like Verizon/Time Warner etc. These services advertise very high speeds but bandwith is not guaranteed and can become extremely slow during peak times. If you read your contract carefully for an advertised 10 megabit connection, it'll say something like speeds vary between 256 kbps - 10 mbps. Remote Deskstop requires very little bandwith since all the processing and database queries are done on the local computer. All remote desktop is doing is essentially updating your screen. (I don't think it uses more than 100 kbps.) Hence, why we over and over recommend it over VPN. You can even corrupt your database if your connection were to go out between locations.

We really need to sticky his ha.

We need to sticky a lot of things.

Maybe we should use Frame Relay, lol.

For me, it comes down to two choices, both good.

I like RDP. It's the fastest and most secure now that it has SSL. It also allows you to get into any and all desktops just by writing in the FQDN. So, you don't have to set up LogMeIn on every computer. And, you don't have to do port forwarding like the earlier version of RDP. The main thing besides fast and secure is that it comes WITH your computer.

The other is LogMeIn. It's free and it is simple to set up. And, it is also very secure. I have no idea how LMI makes it with their free edition being so popular. The Pro version doesn't seem to offer enough of a difference to make one jump to it. File sharing and remote printing aren't worth whatever it is per month.

Another thing to be clear, you only need a terminal server if your workstations will be active at the other office. If no one is working at the other office, you only need RDP.

LogMeIn can is basically RDP and is not a replacement for a terminal server.

You lost me on that one. Why would you need another office if no one would be using the workstations?

Don't you get it, Bert? I do it like Sandeep. For my offices with people in them, I use LMI, but for my virtual offices (the ones with no one at the workstation) I use RDP. Now I just need to get some virtual patients for those offices.

That is too funny. But, you are going to start a flame war.

When we moved to a new office, we kept the old one open for quite a while. Switching back and forth until we could get all the patients to the new office.