Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Version 6.5. Is it worth the effort?

I have noticed some users having problems with installation of the newest version and some users complaining of problems with vaccinations. I'm wondering if it's worth the effort. I have read that the newest version is not supported by Windows SBS 2003. This means that I will have to purchase a new server and OS. So, for those users who have made the switch, is there a significant improvement over V6.3.3?

Ted:

I would not do it. The update has 3 useful features: a formulary check button, phone and fax numbers of the pharmacies, and a way to make the patient summaries a little shorter.

My install was fine. GA support was very helpful.

I have had problems with the program freezing (despite deleting 23000 orders in my user memory), the import items are sometimes slow to open,and the letter writer leaves a lot to be desired. The letter writer does not work well with Dragon, your templates have to be manually set up (mine prints out wrong) and you have to have the person to whom you are writing the letter in the rolodex (which I have not used because of its shortcomings). The program resurrected an old user from a previous version which also caused some problems. I was able to get the data I needed but I have a user that I can't eliminate.

This is the first upgrade that I would consider changing but because of the change to the newer SQL data base, I am reluctant to do this.
The Guardian Angel support has been excellent. l plan to talk them further this week if I have the time.

At the user conference 2 years ago, we were promised this update in 6 months, you would think after 2 years of development and testing it should work better.
I have been extremely disappointed so far and have only been using it for about 2 months.

You probably have to upgrade the server but a work around would be to set up another computer running Win7 and put AC on that computer and link your workstations through your network. One benefit of this approach is that you have one computer dedicated to running AC.

Hope that helps. You can email me directly if you have further questions.

Rick
rgobao@comcast.net

The only part I like is the improved letter writer. Otherwise I see no improvement as a provider. My office person does use some new features. We are not involved in meaningful use/reporting, so no opinion there.

I appreciate the responses. I have not seen anyone raving about the latest version. Bert made some comment about SQL 2012 which I took to be negative. New is not always better. Anyone else want to add their 2 cents worth?

If you have to buy a new server and a new OS, not sure it's worth it. Then again, maybe it is time to upgrade on the hardware. The only advantage for me is the letter writer and the fax and phone numbers on the eRx. That is IF I had it. My comment on 2012 is that I still am using SBS 2008 and it is not recommended by Microsoft. Not saying it won't work, but I tend to go by Microsoft standards especially if I need support. Then again, lol, why would Microsoft turn down $257.00.

Rick -- Good post. But, isn't AC on a dedicated server better than on a dedicated Win 7?

Was it 6.5 or 7 that they talked about two ACUCs ago? I thought it was v7 and PM.

Ted, Given the fact that it isn't that great of an upgrade, why not take this opportunity to slowly upgrade your network by getting a server and OS, then when you have time, migrate to that, then eventually put v8 on it.

The formulary check feature may be the main driver of upgrading. It is a menu item now for meaningful use but would be a required element for MU Stage 2 (which is scheduled to go into effect in 2014 but could potentially be delayed). You can do formulary checking through the NewCrop screen now, but it is unclear if doing it this way satisfies the requirement.

After getting an email to call a receptionist at AC, I spoke with one about the upgrade. I was asked two questions, do I use the vaccination aspect (no, I am a psychiatrist) and do I write controlled substances (hard not to in my specialty). She told me that the current upgrade will not print my DEA number on scripts and I told her to go no further down her checklist. She said that we are not required to upgrade and that there are at least 100 "items" (bugs) in this upgrade and they hope to have them fixed next month. 6.3.3 works fine although pharmacy phone and fax numbers and access to formularies in e-Rx would be excellent. I still don't get why we don't have e-prescribing of controlled substances since some EMR's have had them since last year.

From having done the upgrade for some clients, we have advised clients to sit tight unless there is a *pressing* reason to upgrade.

If you are on a version before 6.3.3, I would consider upgrading to 6.3.3.

There were several fixes promised in an interim release @ ACUC several years ago. Most of those fixes did not show up in the 6.5.x release, but they were (mostly) successful in copying the functionality of a third party tool for correspondence.

Guess I'm just too use to the developers on XDA who continually tweak the phone software so that I'm flashing a new ROM every other week; that I was so hopeful that this long awaited upgrade was going to be that much closer to nirvana.
Silly me continue with 6.3.3 and still wondering what if any the influence of Pri-Med will have on the product.

6.1.2 and going strong!

If this ain't broke I'm not fixing it!

Gene

I upgraded and I really wish I didn't. The bugs are killing us, and it's slow.
UGH>

I am using 6.5.5 and am pleased. I "side-graded" from V7.0.10. It fixed a couple issues with 7 and had a better letter writer. It does have formulary checking but I have not found that useful (does not work with IL public aid which is most of my practice.) Some of the other "new" features were in V7, so I was use to them.

I think it runs faster. I did do several tweaks to the system so I cannot rule out that they may have had an effect. Overall I am pleased.

Hi,

So we got an email with links to a the upgrade files. Clicking and downloading the files results in a file named "AmazingCharts66.5P1[1]. This file has no extension.

Is this some kind of zip file? I'd like to try the upgrade myself.

We're running SBS 2011 Essentials, so I'm assuming the upgrade should be fairly smooth?

The same thing with me. I was told by tech support at that time that there was a problem and the download resulted in a file with the wrong extension. I changed the file extension ".exe (to AmazingChartsV6.5P1.exe) and the file installed correctly(384 mb).

I am only telling you what I did. I am technically not supposed to tell you what to do.

Be warned, if you use the iPhone app, upgrading to 6.5.6 will kill it.

As of now, they have no intention of fixing it. Apparently,they quietly phased out the app at the beginnIng of year.

Upgrading to 6.5.6 has been the BIGGEST mistake I've ever made with amazing charts, as I have become very dependent on this app. If they would have warned me, I wouldn't have done it. I've posted this complaint elsewhere, but wanted to add it to a thread for people contemplating making the upgrade.

If anyone else wants to vocalize, please bring it up to customer service, and add your voice to the Wish List thread, "please bring back the iPhone app".

Thanks.

After today, I would absolutely not upgrade. The letter writer is great (finally) and that's one of the big bonuses although you do have to start over as all of your old letters are gone which would have been nice to know. My office also likes the verification button when they call patients for their appointments. I also found install just as easy as the previous versions.

But the negatives outweigh the positives. When entering a new patient, you have to enter their demographics first, then save and close, then re-find and reopen the patient, then click the billing tab to enter their insurance info. HUGE waste of time.

Then this whole conversion of the insurance over to some HIM compatible crap. Pain in the butt for the staff. Just added more work to them in an already busy day.

And today, the worst finding. Our HL7 interface with our practice management system now only transfers the patients name and DOB. Worthless. So I spent $500 on an interface that is 100% worthless.

Not super happy.

The letter writer on my 6.5.5 still has all my letter templates just in a different place - when I go into a letter and right click - the Amazing Charts Templates are listed there. I am not sure about your question of converting the insurance information - is this what is noted as "codified" ? I know this adds in insurance information - I do not believe it is mandatory but not really a big deal. I am not sure about entering insurance info - I had not noted.

Was the HL7 interface one supplied by AC and if so - recommend you contact Guardian Angel and get them started on fixing it.

Did they ACTUALLY tell you not to tell anyone else?

I have never really understood how AC comes out with versions. I think maybe it is that we are such a tight knit group that beta testing gets out. But, everyone talks about when the next version will be out weeks to months before it does. I think that puts pressure on AC (like v7/PM in the past) to get a product out.

Other companies go through the alpha/beta process in the background with no fanfare. Beta testers are given specific steps to do and pass back the info. They are also given bonues for all of their work. WHEN the final product is ready and completely bullet-proof, current users are notified. An example is CurrentWare (an incredible product for control of Internet usage). I am using CurrentWare and have no idea that a new version is in the offing. Then, I receive an email which brings up this website:

http://www.currentware.com/

It gives you the overview, new features, hardware and software requires and other things you would want to know about the product. I hardly read it, because I know it will have everything prior plus additions. I know I am not telling anyone anything new. Now to be honest, maybe if there was an active userboard, I would find out bugs I wasn't aware. But, it's just nice to click on the download and install and have it done in less than a minute.

If an iPhone app will be lost, that should be in bold red letters.

In fact, the Currentware site is so well done, I would copy it. Not to replace AC's site, which is vastly improved. Just that type of layout.

I'm with DocGene. I just hate missing the phone numbers in eRx.

I feel so honored!!!

Gene

Steven,

Thanks. I didn't realize my templates were still there somewhere for the letter writer. That's great although I'd already redone them.

The HL7 interface was made by the PM company so I've got a service request into them to see if anything can be done. Going back to double entry is another time consuming process for my already small staff.

Converting the insurance info is required I believe for each patient for the HIM crap. Not a huge deal but definitely something that is adding work to my office staff.

The insurance screen not being available for a new patient until that patient is enter and saved is absolutely silly. My front office staff hate it but they deal with it like we deal with all of the little idiosyncracies of imperfect software.

The thing about AC is that it has always made our office more efficient and simpler. This new version has added more work to them which is a bit rough when I stretch them thin already to keep overhead down.

What do you mean "gone?" The saved copies letters that you wrote and sent to patients are now Gone??? Possibly contributing to a legal issue in the future? Please tell me that I misunderstood you.

The verification button sounds OK. I prefer the way its done with Updox, an email is sent out automatically and asks the patient to confirm the appointment. I just wish they had an option to send this by text message since so many people just want to text and don't check their email as often.

It makes no sense that they would design the system so that you have to reopen a new patient to add their insurance information. I can actually make a pretty good guess how it ended up that way, but there is a debatably poor decision in there someplace.

As someone who has championed AC in the past, and know of a few practices in our area that began using AC due to either my personal recommendation, or the recommendation of someone who I convinced to get AC, I am somewhat disheartened to see a release like this. We can't consider upgrading since the vaccine section is also not working properly, and we administer a lot of vaccines.

I'm just dismayed that there is even a thread like this, and it is even sadder that the comments seem to pretty much say "No. Don't do it."

Hopefully you saved a backup of data from 6.3.3 and also saved the installer for 6.3.3

The installer should still be available for V6.3.3.

PM me if you need the link.

Wayne,

All the letters are there. I initially couldn't find my old templates for the letter writer and completely re-wrote all of those templates. But they were there.

The rest is unfortunately true. The billing button being grayed out is a pain for the staff. Not devastating but definitely not easy or efficient.

I'm working with my practice management company to get my interface to work again. I didn't realize how much my staff relied on this but it cut their time in half entering info.

Well, the new version has given my staff a lot more busy work to do on the days that I'm in the operating room.

Glad those letters were there. AC has been forced to add a lot in a relatively short time with the limited resources of a small company. Hopefully they'll be able to fix some things with a maintenance release.

Does anyone know where to find the version 6.5.6 install files on the AC website? Logging in as a client only links to the 6.3.3 version installation files. I am trying to add a new computer without having to contact AC tech support.

Here is the link.
http://amazingcharts.us5.list-manag...d448d&id=b89b930fe6&e=096385f88a

We are going to wait for 6.6 because it is very close and we don't want to do it twice.

Thanks!

Joel - I think my partners came to your office to look at AC....if so let me know...thanks...Todd

Yes they were down for a couple of hours. If you have questions or want to come visit let me know.