Home Forums Discussions General Discussion access to e-prescribing in AC

Hi again. The doc's office is set up so that the doc's and office manager's computers have full internet access. But, the front office computers only have limited internet access by using the HOSTS file and setting the computer's DNS to 127.0.0.1. Only AC and a few other medical related websites are allowed. (Of course, I understand that someone with enough knowledge can defeat this, but will not be likely.)

When e-prescribing in AC, the computers with full access can do the complete process. But, the computers with limited access get an error at the first step... something like the necessary information (data base?) cannot be accessed. I'm assuming that the e-prescribing process in AC is trying to connect to a URL (website?) outside of the AC site, and that I'll need to enter the URL into the HOSTS file to allow access. Is this information available? Or is it even possible to get this information?

Thanks...

Hello Les,

This is the address AC uses for communication to New Crop https://secure.newcroprx.com
This should be added as a trusted site on each computer you will be ePrescibing with.
Please be aware AC uses Internet Explorer for E-Rx communication, even if your default browser is something else.

To test each computer's connection to New Crop, please go to this site https://secure.newcropaccounts.com/account/demo/
If all goes well you should be greeted with this message


If not, you should be prompted to download and install a web certificate.
After install, restart IE and try link again.

If you get any other message but that one, you will have to manually install the New Crop and Verisign certificates.
You may download them here : http://www.amazingcharts.net/download/ncc.zip

If that fails, the Verisign root install on that computer has become corrupted.
You will then need to follow the instructions in the doc HOWTOInstallNCRootCertOnPartnerWebServer. (included in .zip file)
Then try the link again

Once you are able to see the New Crop greeting
Start up AC and you will be able to E-Rx.

Thank you for your continued support,
Craig@AC

Craig... Thank you very much for your complete and detailed information.

Craig... (or anyone else that can help) Since I'm using the HOSTS file for DNS resolution, I'll need the IP address along with the website name. This is how I've been able to limit the front office computers to selected websites.

The process I used was to ping a specific website name from a computer with full internet access, and obtain the IP address. Then I enter the IP address and the website name into the HOSTS file in the front office computers. So when the website name is entered into the browser, the IP is obtained from the HOSTS file and the website loads.

So I pinged secure.newcroprx.com, and entered the resulting IP address along with that website name into the HOSTS file. When I click on the Step 1 button in e-prescribing in AC, there is a pause, with the "busy" bar in the lower-left of the window cycling, then the message box that the interaction database cannot be loaded. Before I put the IP address into the HOSTS file, that message box pops up immediately, so I think something is happening, but fails.

I also tried a ping to secure.newcropaccounts.com, and got the same IP address as secure.newcroprx.com. So I entered secure.newcropaccounts.com with that IP address in the HOSTS file. In IE, I still couldn't get to the "demo" website. I don't think it's a certificate problem yet, at least.

Is the IP address of secure.newcorprx.com available for use? Or, is this a proxy server or something like it, where I need another IP address.

I tried "trusted sites" in IE, but that didn't work either... probably since there was still the need for DNS resolution.

Thanks again...

Les,

Sounds like there is a proxy and/or cluster device that sits in front of the actual server.

Some of the web services implementations we have done have that type of edge device protection. The actual destination gets resolved and the traffic passed inward. You are just hitting the edge and dropping.

A better strategy (if your edge device will support it) is to start with blocking outbound all/all, then selectively allowing outbound traffic based on IP ranges.

Indy... thank you very much for your comments. The doc's office is a simple P2P network... 1 doc, 1 MA, 1 receptionist, 1 office mgr. I think I know what an edge device is, but I definitely don't have knowledge to implement one. What you say about a device that sits in front of the actual server is what I was thinking was happening. If so, I don't think we can set up the network the way the doc wants... at least I don't know right now how else to do it.

I was also thinking this morning... when I entered the IP and website name into the HOSTS file, the connection was made (IE says "Connecting..." with the spinning circle, then the message that the web page cannot be loaded). Without the HOSTS file entry, IE responds immediately with the web page loading problem (no "Connecting..." or spinning circle). Maybe it's looking for credentials or certificate that has to be loaded into AC on that specific computer. So maybe the first time I do this, the computer has to have unlimited access so the proper credentials can be downloaded and entered into AC. Then after that, maybe it will work with the HOSTS file restriction. I'll be trying this in the next few days. Thanks again...

[SOLVED] Success. It turns out that I had the wrong IP address for secure.newcorpaccounts.com. I don't know how I did it before, but I used the same IP address as secure.newcorprx.com. Anyway, I got the correct IP address, and e-prescribing in AC now works.

Craig, I did get the invalid certificate at first when I tried to go to secure.newcropaccounts.com. So I took off all internet restrictions, went to that website which loaded correctly, and that apparently got the valid certificate. Then I went back to restrict the computer, and everything continued to work as desired. So the front office computers have limited internet access, but e-prescribing in AC works... just like the doc wants.

Thank you very much to Craig for your detailed info, Indy for your insights, and others who have read about my problem.

Hell Les,

Thank you for the follow up and I'm glad it worked out

Have a great week,
Craig@AC

Hi... I'm back again. Up until the last post above, I was able to get through Step 1 when e-prescribing... which I thought was it.

Then, when they went to Step 2, there was a problem with memory errors. So after searching through this user board, I turned off display hardware acceleration and write combining. This worked. But when trying to actually send the prescription, get this message box:

"An Internet connection is required to send scripts electronically. Please check your connection and try again."

Is there another website that I have to allow access to in order to send the prescription. In another thread, Craig@AC said that for AC administrative services, the website services.amazingcharts.net has to be allowed internet access. Is this what's missing, or is there another website that has to be allowed.

Thanks again...

Hi... still having that e-prescribing problem. I can get all the way through, until "Transmit to Pharmacy". At that point, I get the "no internet connection" message. Here's the HOSTS file that I have:

127.0.0.1 localhost
216.38.63.60 amazingcharts.com
206.188.192.156 secure.newcroprx.com
216.245.190.133 secure.newcropaccounts.com
72.32.26.248 amazingcharts.net
72.32.26.248 ftp.amazingcharts.net
174.143.19.5 services.amazingcharts.net
216.245.190.133 secure.newcropaccounts.com/v7/WebServices

I'm not sure that last line is necessary. I get the same error message with and without that line.

Can anyone help with letting me know what's missing.

Thanks again... and Happy Holidays.

Good question, and thanks for including your hosts file, we are working to improve our DNS filtering.

There are obviously additional hosts to add to the list, and I look forward to the answers.

Finally, successfully transmitted scripts electronically. Three more websites were needed to be added to the HOSTS file as I posted above.

1. www.amazingcharts.net 72.32.26.248

2. www.amazingcharts.com 216.38.63.60

Even if the IP is the same with and without the "www.", the HOSTS file needs both entries since both domains with and without the "www." are considered to be different. And it appears that the initial connection attempt to www.amazingcharts.net "calls" www.amazingcharts.com, which then connects to amazingcharts.com. At least this is what I gathered from looking at IP connection logs...

2. www.google.com 74.125.239.17

At least, at the doc's office, this is the IP address that AC is trying to connect to. I've pinged www.google.com from various places and computers, and get slightly different IP addresses (mainly the last group of xxx), but I think at least one of these various IP addresses is needed in the HOSTS file. Probably one of many google servers, so limiting to only one IP may not respond sporadically, but at least I know where to look if that happens.

Also, I deleted that last line for "secure.newcropaccounts.com/v7/WebServices" so it was apparently not needed after all.

I hope this helps...