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When e-Prescribing, a small box is present "Save as patient's preferred pharmacy" When this box is checked prior to a successful e-Prescribing, one would assume the pharmacy data would be saved for the next visit - but in my version (6.0.10) it is not.
Any suggestions to make it remember?

Bruce Morgenstern, MD (Neurology)
Denver, CO

I'm having the same problem. Keep having to re-search for the patient's pharmacy. Hope we get an answer...

Our office has had the same problem since version 5. We contacted tech support about it last year--their response was that they were aware of the problem but it was "not an issue of enough subscribers to make it a priority."

strange. I've never noticed this. One thing you can do though is to go to the demographics page and input the pharmacy there. Be sure to save/update.

We have always had this in Version 5, and were told it had been fixed in version 6. We have not upgraded. It is a significant annoyance. It makes no difference if we delineate it through the demographics page or in the Rx writer; neither works.

Yes, seems to be a problem for certain patients. For some it works fine but other I have to find and re-enter their pharmacy each prescription. No rhyme or reason I can see yet.
It looks fine under the demographics but not being picked up when writing prescription for some patients

Greg

I have the same problem as well (version 6). Funny thing is on some patients it saves the pharmacy info. But for most I have to re-enter it. I contacted Tech support and they told me they were aware of the problem.

I also have that problem with the pharmacy not being remembered yet I have another complaint.

Normally we might enter pharmacy info into the memo field so it was where we needed it when we did a refill. However, in ver 6, the memo field is a note to the pharmacist so we have lost our ability to make notes on how we filled the Rx or anything else we wanted to document privately in the prescribing menu. For instance, I might write an Rx for Coumadin 1 mg tabs, 4 a day or as directed and then notate in the memo field that the patient currently is on 3 mg a day. Now however that message goes to the pharmacist, and they may get only 90 pills instead of 120 pills and perhaps run short for the month when I adjust the dose up. I liked having that information in the Rx portion, because in all honesty I may not remember it, nor reread the note from a few visits ago documenting the change in dosing.

My preferred pharmacy is almost never remembered either. Upgrage to v. 6 no help. One thing I have noticed is that if a new pharmacy shows up in the database (or an old one changes in some way) then it will be remembered.

Any one else notice this?

Do you think it means anything? I wonder if you could somehow refresh the pharmacy database it might help.

This is one thing I really miss about my old, free, standalone eRx program. Not only did it remember the pharmacy perfectly, but would also remember the mail-in pharmacy, and would let you send part of the list for local fill, part for mail in fill, and print the controlled portion all in one step. It would be so great if AC would look at some of the other available solutions and mimic the good parts, but in their zeal to make it "lighter, better, cheaper" I feel they have also succombed to the "non invented here" syndrome.

It does allow erx and printing at same time - load up all your scrips, go to send page and hit send, it will send the ones it can and give you a 'beep' and can't send which you then hit print.

Figured this one out I found that in demographics if the pharmacy is enter and not selected from the list then when triing to change pharmacy or save pharmacy as default it does not save correctly, but if the pharmacy is correctly selected in the demographics then it saves correctly.

I have had my staff enter the preferred pharmacy under demographics. It has never appeared under the transmit prescription page. I have to manually enter the pharmacy every time. This process is a major loss of time that could be avoided if the program worked correctly.

I queried tech support about this (again) last week, hoping something was different in 6.12 and I just had not found it. Same story. It is a known bug. No resolution time offered.

I am relieved that it is a "known bug". I'll tell my next patient that "Yes, it's MRSA. No worries, it's a known bug".

What kind of company has continued meaningful flaws in its software, illuminated by its users, and simply continues to ignore them?(asked rhetorically).

I agree this flaw is a significant time waster - compromising the very idea that this software is supposed to optimize physician-patinet interactions.

Very frustrating

Bruce Morgenstern, MD,
Neurology
Denver, CO

I am using 6.0.10, and I do think half of the function works correctly.

If you ask it to "Save selected as patient's preferred pharmacy" while you are writing rx, it is hit or miss, sometimes saved and sometimes not.

It you use the demographics page to search for and add the preferred pharmacy, it ALWAYS remembers. But, you must remember to choose "Save" or "Update Info" button at bottom right of demographics page to save it. The only times it has not saved is when the human forgets to do this step. We forgot this many times until we trained ourselves to be sure to click it.

So, I always go to the demographics page first to be sure I have set the pharmacy before I write rx.

Isn't that the point of Meaningful Use

My use of this program would be more meaningful if AC more attentively fixed the meaningful flaws -

(in the meantime, we're testing DeCubed's fix. - we'll let you know shortly)

Bruce Morgenstern, MD (Neurology)
Denver, CO

You must also make sure your staff chooses pharmacy from drop down list - I find that sometimes someone types it in and does not search for it - this makes it not work also.

This seems totally hit or miss among us. No combination of pharmacy entry works for me, or ever has. Some folks report it always works for them. But, I agree, this is a

We Just tried DCubed's method using 6.0.10 (including choosing the pharmacy from thepick- list in Demographics, and saving it:

Unfortunately, no effect on selected Pharmacies in the EHR Script writer - still need to re-find it on one's own.

Disappointing . . . . (as is AC's action on repairing it)

- still waiting for a reasonable version of letter writer back from long ago when we had enough enthusiasm to actually have conducted polls.

Bruce Morgenstern, MD (Neurology)
Denver, CO

Bruce,
Unfortunately, a lot of some of ours enthusiasm was squelched.

Bruce,
I am sorry that our method does not work for you.

I don't understand how the same version of AC can perform so differently for different users.

Anyone from AC with an explanation???

Spoke with AC - their programmer stated that they had not continued to see this problem except with alphanumeric pharmacies (apparently in Canada) - I relayed the name of this thread and he said he would try to get on here and contact those users having this problem so they get it figured out and fixed - also spoke with Jon and he said they would try to fix it once and for all.

The problem has been there for us in all versions. Sometimes the pharmacy appears but mostly it does not. It does not seem to matter if I input the pharmacy again.

I agree that this (and many other features) should have been corrected long ago. We have reported the bug countless times.

Thanks to user input we were able to track down the issue where some pharmacies are not pre-selected on the medications transmit screen after they have been saved as a preferred pharmacy in the patient's demographics. This was due to how we are looking up the pharmacy ID. We are fixing this issue now and it will be included in our upcoming 6.2 release.

JohnS
Amazing Charts

YAAAAAYYYYY!!!

Score a big one for tech support involvement on the board.

For those who upgraded, is it fixed?

I have no idea why I am lucky, 6.1.1, no problems regarding memorizing pharmacy, I have no idea what I am doing right.

Boondoc, I have v6.1.2 and it always remembers the pharmacy.

This seems to be one of those idiosyncratic issues. We had no problems with 5.029, and none currently with 6.09, but I know that the problem was not fixed by those versions for other users.

Is there a setting in AC so that the patient remembers their pharmacy?

Maybe a tattoo on their forehead.

My problem is I ask the patient what pharmacy they want their prescription sent to. They tell me, I send the rx, tell them to notify the pharmacist it was sent electronically. Office visit is done. Then the front office staff says to me, "the patient had a question for you before they go".
So I go up to the front and the patient says to me "Hey, aren't you going to give me a prescription?"

Marty, I had a similar thought, but as a gastroenterologist, I was thinking of this. Of course it means that you need to do a colonoscopy every time you want to look up their pharmacy, so maybe your way is better.

I have been thinking of endoscopic tattooing as a way to make my various passwords REALLY secure.

Fortunately, my office staff predict the question and tell them it was ePrescribed. But, I still get this all the time, and it makes no sense. You want to just say, and you can with certain patients, "No, I am just interested in what pharmacy you use. I am looking for a new one." I guess it is just human nature since we have given out handwritten scripts for over 100 years.

Jon,

Not a bad idea. You could also tattoo their medication list

Marty,

Wouldn't it be more fun, though, to use the descriptions than the names suchs as:

Small, green pill
Oval yellow tablet
Large round pill, it may be yellow, I can't remember
Square pill that starts with C, no maybe F.

John gives literal meaning to the phrase "stick it where the sun don't shine."
saving passwords to your colon would really keep your passwords from falling into the hands of the wrong person. But what about those passwords that require replacement every 3 months...