Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Synchronization

I use logmein pro and logmein ignition to access our current emr and billing system at the office. We even use to use PCAnywhere years ago. They all work pretty well as long as you have a good internet connection. Unfortunately we have a home on a lake that does not have internet or cell phone access. Yes even in these days we have probably the only spot in Michigan without service. I tested the syncronization feature and it does sync. In an ideal world we would like to go up on the weekends and work on a laptop, come in on Monday and sync to to office. This also would be great for the summer vacation. How reliable is the sync process and can the office staff continue to work with AC while we are gone. We have satellite internet and Team View since logmein does not work with satellite internet. But this is so slow hardly useable.

I don't know. It used to get talked about all the time, but with all the talk about VNC, RDC, LMI, GTMP, Team Viewer, etc., everyone kind of went that route. I don't see much of a problem with staff using it and your using it. They add five meds and four messages. You delete two and add three. Then you sync and they are all the same. Personally, I am rather wary. I would ask James what he thinks of Sync with SQL tables, etc.

I have talked to tech support extensively as I have a satellite office taht my staff doesn't come to but would like to have her work on stuff. Basically when you take something offsite, it becomes the main computer...so when you come back the next time and sync back, your laptop rules and the stuff taht your staff may have done (notes/messages/schedule additions/subtractions) will disappear...

So it isn't dynamic where it would look at what you did over the weekend and what a staff member did first thing monday morning..so if she/he added two patients and you had delelted two others over the weekend..only your two deletions will hold true...nothing your staff did will stay on.

hence i always use logmein ignition and the free version online.

Thanks for the explaination. This is what we have been doing all along with our current EMR written in Access. Bring the back end file home and make sure no one at the office modifies anything until we upload. At least we can do the same process. Might have to use TeamViewer via satellite internet.

From our experience, all I can say is DON'T do it!

The sync process works fine most of the time. The key word is "most." When it doesn't, it corrupts the database. You then have to contact tech support and wait for them to fix it, and then re-sync.

It's a total pain. I speak from experience. Wife tried this several times, and I had to constantly worry about the database being totally ruined. So, not only did we keep tech support busy, but so much that the main person fixing the file got frustrated and told us to stop using the sync feature.

If at all possible, try to see if any company can provide cell access and then use the usb stick to get internet on your laptop. Use logmein. It works.

My 2 cents.

Did they really say that? Wow.

I have always warned against syncing, and I have never used it other than in trials.

I appreciate the advice. Last thing we need is a whole weekend of note writing down the drain. Our current Access back end works flawlessly in the last six years. I know logmein does not work with Hughesnet satellite internet but Teamviewer does although really slow.......

Wish I had better things to say, folks.

Yes, Bert, he really did suggest that we abandon using that feature. We were tying up his time on almost a weekly basis (not to mention being quite frustrated) with the database corruptions.

After about the fifth time, he "suggested" we find alternate ways of doing things, and that's when I tried logmein. Haven't looked back.

Things may have improved over the past year, but with my experience, I'd just suggest that you don't use this "feature." I doubt that the sync function is a priority item for the programmers.

Hi all.
As a new user of AC, I was really looking forward to the sync function. Does anyone have any better experience with this feature? Is anyone working on it at AC? I regularly use logmein, but, I anticipate times when I'll have no internet access.

I had a conversation w Michael Kerr yesterday. He indicated that the synchronization problem happens when orders are saved and sent on either of the computers. Have any of you noted this, or has sync been a problem w/o orders being sent?
Has anyone tried to sync from a remote location? I will be at a remote office for 2 months this summer.
In anticipation of recommendations such as logmein, which I use from home, I'll be making house calls!!! where remote access is not available, at times.
Thanks to all,
Marc

The new smart phones have the ability to provide wireless connection. And, I posted some other gadgets that are faster. So, you could use your laptop and your smart phone if the coverage were correct.

Bert, thanks for the reply.
If needed, I can get a mifi type card for access to 3 or 4g, or in a pinch use my smartphone as a hotspot. But, there are dead zones where I make house calls in the wilds of Sullivan county, NY, and use of cellphone as hotspot precludes its use as a phone at the same time, so I would miss patient calls. Besides which, the hotspot function is a huge battery hog.
Back to my original question.... can I sync from a remote location?

...so I would miss patient calls.

And, that's bad, why?

Syncing from a remote connection=bad idea. If your connection times out, the database will get corrupted. This can easily happen over WiFi, I don't want to picture what could happen over the Internet. Or worse Internet+WiFi at the same time...

thanks Bert and Sandeep
AC offered me a copy of trial run w copies of my patients (partial set) to attempt remote synch with laptop via internet. will try after holidays and let you know how it works.
Bert.. As archaic as it may seem, we have our patients call us on our cell phones and we cover 24h 6days. we have found, for us that this is easier than having to respond to pages (small practice 1 PA and 1 MD). works for us.

Please do not sync over an internet connection or any other wireless connection. One hiccup and your database is trash (maybe on both sides). This is easy to happen considering that you are directly accessing all the data and transferring it to the computer you are using it on, and then updating tons of data to the host computer. This is happening back and forth as you are using this system. A malfunction is very dangerous to your sanity.

If you can, use Logmein or an equivalent. This way, even if you lose a connection, the host computer (the one you are controlling) is just sitting there with no more input until you reconnect. Nothing is destroyed.

We were using the sync option with great success for months. Then we had a bridge installed for one of our local labs to send results directly to AC and since then it has been a chore to get one of our laptops to sync to the main database. We get through 90% of the sync and get "SmartExceptionsCore.UnhandledException @ 3140, offset:198" as well as four others. I chatted with tech support and they told me to sync with AC up and running. That worked once. now I am still getting the same result. Any suggestions, other than pushing my providers to do more charting in the rooms!

Jesse

Synch revisited, 1 yr later... Any new thoughts or experiences?

I have AC on Call on my iPhone, but don't use the Sync features for the database. I seem to remember mysterious MISSING notes...