Home Forums Discussions Feedback and Recommendations Practice Management.

Any closer?

James Aurand

Yes, when is the next release scheduled for?

I think it's supposed to be released as part of version 4. Anyone know of additional info on what is going to be in the new version other than the inclusion of version 4? Moving from Access to SQL express for example?

Last year, I was really looking forward to a PM module. This year, based on how difficult it is to work with a new update and the concern that I am trading in my license for the software to a suscription based system, I would like to see others use whatever new version for a year or two before switching over. There are a lot of basic issues with the program that in my opinion needs repair that hasn't been addressed.

What difficulty are you having with the new update?


What are the top three issues on your list?

1. Inability to print orders without opening a new note. Must be creating a progress note to print orders. (states that there is some sort of inability to fit in parameter and then AC shuts down).
2. "Over a dozen errors have been discovered... Amazingcharts need to shut down." This occurs three to four times a day especially when trying to print or sending messages to others.
3. When saving images to import section, get blank screen (there is nothing to save although the inbox shows that it needs to be looked at). This occurs when there are several items that needs approval and I push the "check all" and "approve all", the entry at the very bottom would persist. Can't get rid of that unless I delete the inbox message (without saving import).
4. When trying to open imported items tab while doing intake with patients, the whole chart will disappear. You then have to reopen the chart again and start over, one time it actually came back but other times completely lost.
5. When trying to open a patient on the current days schedule, if there are any double bookings, double clicking on the patient name will open a different patients chart. Some of the information is the correct patient info, other info is from a different patient's chart.
6. At times when trying to open a patient chart from the current days schedule, it will take multiple double clickings to open file.
7. After working in the scheduling portion, you click off and go to list and click on someone else, it will still open the patient from the schedule box.
8.If you get interrupted in the middle of a message and have to schedule or look up something, you have to start all over but it will not let you reassociate the patient's name in the message subject line.
9. Common diagnosis box can be checked, but it does nothing.
10. Unable to delete improper entries, causing errors to be perpetruated into perpetuity.
11. Vital sign notes not printing under certain circumstances (and I have yet to figure out why it does not print from time to time on paper)--though it shows up electronically.
12. Heartbreaks. When you update, ICD-9, CPT codes and medication list which I have edited gets lost.
13. User dictionary which is inadequate in scope and gets erased with each update.
14. Child's head circumference... units switches without converting the number. And visa versa, where the number switches the other way. Amazingcharts causes my kids to have microcephaly ("Honey, I Shrunk the Kids' Heads!"). I have many kids with head circumferences of 7 inches.

(I HAVE MORE, but you said three... And I have gotten so used to some of the bugs that I don't see them anymore... I just work around them)

Well, I typed my usual five paragraph 600 word post, and then hit some button, and lost it all. So, this will be much shorter. Suffice it to say that we don't use #s 3 - 7 as we don't use Import ever and don't use the scheduler.

How do you lose your databases with an update? Do you not save them somewhere first? Spell check is horrible, but you should be able to back up your user dictionary prior to a new upgrade.

I am not sure why the vital signs aren't printing. That would seem like a bug. Has to be reproducible. Have you let support know about it?

With the crashes...have you tried running the program from shortcuts to the executable on the server? Or are you running it with client programs?

Never had the child's head circumference problem.

I have never had most of these problems.

You have said in the past that it had been a long time since you updated your version of Amazing Charts. I inferred from post #5102 above that maybe you had gone ahead and done that.

If you have not updated in a while, I don't know how you can make some of these criticisms fairly.

#9 is not a bug. What do you want that box to do?

#10 I don't understand. No, we can't fix a mistake in an old note, once signed, but you can type an explanatory addendum, and you don't have to make the same mistake twice.

#12 is easily preventable, as Bert says.

#13 is easily fixable. I will post how if anyone is interested.

Well, we have gone far afield from the original topic of this thread, which was when we could expect the Practice Management module. I have nothing to say on that topic. Paul (hockeyref) said he had heard it would be ready sometime in March.

Have a good evening!

#9 A checkbox to make a diagnosis "common." What does that do? Or what is it supposed to do?

#10 On this one I think he means how, for instance, once someone has misspelled but saved "New Yourk" or "Etna" in a patients demographics screen, that item cant be removed from the system. I have a host of non-existent cities and insurance companies saved that I must be sure to bypass now when inputting demographics.

#5 Oh, we do use the scheduler and the opening of an alternate chart is really irritating. You have to remember to pull the patients name up in the search box.

#3 We don't import files much so I dont see this, but I have issues with saving documents that are scanned with my Twain scanner which I have mentioned in previous posts (and submitted bug reports on).

You folks know that I'm an AC fan. But there is a growing list of problems with AC that aren't getting corrected. Some of these things are old (like cant print the entire chart on one click, even if there IS a button that says so)and some are new and were introduced with an enhancement (printing the DNRs on Quest labs, not putting "Quest" on the labs, incorrect highlighting of lab results.)

Now, my hunch is that overall Jon has a pretty small s/w development and maintenance team. But he needs to get these issues addressed. I recently found an error in the Instant Medical History import feature, and I reported the error. But I dont know when/if it will be addressed. And this is a fairly serious error.

Wayne,
Thanks, Wayne. Yes #10, I meant entries typed into demographic fields that are erroneous such as "BLEU KROSS" or cities such as "LOST ANGLES".

These are bugs I am dealing, some for the past five years.

I'm disappointed that my issues are not taken seriously or are pooh-poohed as being "unfair criticism." I think I'm wasting my time on this board. I'll go stick my head in the sand and pretend that my EMR is perfect. So perfect, that I don't need upgrades.

I don't think you are wasting your time. But I do think 1) they may have a too-small software team, 2) some issues may be more difficult than we know in order to change (underlying fault in the basic s/w architecture--a bear to try and resolve if possible) and/or 3) We need to be sure to send bug complaints through the "Bug Report" system the AC software. I have had email responses to bug reports I sent in through there so I think that is where they look first. The more often a complaint goes through there, the more attention it gets.

I'm not as sure about the suggested improvement though.

Well, I would call that a mystery, not a bug! This looks to me like something that was meant to be a feature, but never quite made it.

(A means of marking diagnoses as common could be helpful, if you could use that data to help you find diagnoses in the ICD-9 lookup.)


Gotcha.

Well, I believe there is a fix for this!

This is from the Help section of Amazing Charts:

I remembered stumbling onto this in the past, but I re-found it again today by searching under "misspelled".

Roy:

I took your issues very seriously. I took the time to offer solutions to a couple of them, as a matter of fact.

I just haven't had some of them, and it made me wonder if those problems could stem from running an outdated version of Amazing Charts.

I did not mean to suggest in any way that Amazing Charts is bug-free, or that it couldn't be improved (I have a long list of suggestions).

I needed to get in an extra post before Bruce Dickinson or Ozzie Osborn had their way with me anyway, so this looked like a good place to chime in.
Roy,

The repair of mispells works fairly well as I have done so a number of times. Unfortunately someone always seems to put more of them in. I am trying to wittle down the number of BC/BS plans we have in the demo section.

And yes we totally agree with you that being able to switch back and forth between making an appointment or taking a message without lossing one or the other would be a HUGH improvement!!! These days I put people on hold or try to force them to finish the thought before I move on. But switching back and forth really is how our offices and our lives work and it would be wonderful if the program would be able to keep up with this.

Many of us have asked to be able to have more than one patient open as well. Many times I am talking to a parent as they naturally bounce back and forth between kids but the system only allows for one at a time.

Oh, I didn't know about that fix for the misspelled words. Thanks, ya'll!

I totally agree with this one. Right now, my workaround is a shortcut to Notepad. I use Notepad as a holding place for half-finished notes, then cut and paste them into Amazing Charts.


I also totally agree with this one.

Once again, I have figured out a workaround which allows me to have two charts open at the same time. It requires LogMeIn, and an idle PC.

I use the free version of LogMeIn. Using this program, you can remote control another PC from your PC, via the internet. The desktop of the other PC appears inside a web browser window.

It is very easy: Use LogMeIn to "Remote Control" PC #2. Open Amazing Charts on PC #2. Minimize the browser window.

That's it. Now, if you're working on one chart and somebody calls, you just maximize the browser window connected to PC #2, and start charting in that record.