Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Amazing Charts Cloud

Any user feedback about Amazing Charts on the cloud would be immensely helpful. We are possibly interested in switching over.

Dear Amber4:

I switched to AC in the Cloud back in April and have been very happy with it. You might want to look through this thread: http://amazingcharts.com/ub/ubbthreads.php/topics/56404/1

John

Agreed, I'm very pleased with it too.

See also this thread:

http://amazingcharts.com/ub/ubbthreads.php/topics/56167/1

Michael
NY

I have been using it now for about 6 weeks. It has been great. No significant complaint. We did lose our internet access for a day and it brought the most significant limitation into very clear focus.
There is one quirk you should be aware of depending on how you run your practice. I run my office so that the MA enters the vitals and chief complaint into an open chart for a pt that is on a computer signed in under my user name. If I open amazing charts in another room while that chart is up it will put that patient into the other computer as well. The reason for this is that the auto back up that AC has set up is unique to a user when you are in the cloud. When you are on a server client set up in your office the back up is unique to a computer. So beware of this problem. It can be a real pain if you are not paying attention. Aside from that, no complaints.

I'm less happy with the hosted cloud. Have found support to be variable (see the thread suggested above). They said it would work on a Mac and it does to some extent (even better than a PC because you can access your part of the server and open files etc) but it will not print from the Mac. Its also faster on the Mac for me. But not being able to print is a problem.

Printing from PC has been slow-but it varies by machine. I just moved to an old Vista and its better than on my Win 7. But I was having frozen screens for 40-60+ seconds while it processes printer redirections. Someone else on the other thread also mentions this.

I have not been able to make the iPad connection work- probably not worth trying anyway. No support for iPad from AC. In fact, there are no published rules or guides from AC at all about the service. Kind of flying by the seat of their pants.

I'm solo solo and would do better with two 'users' so I'm not having to wait to connect as I move between front office and exam room - will probably move to logmein or vpn connection and just keep one connection open if that becomes too cumbersome.

Did they install the TSP print program on your computers? Don't know if this works with a Mac but this has allowed me to print seamlessly.

TSPrint not working on Mac. It did work quite well on Win 7 for a few days and then there were glitches due to the server folks not installing the licenses for the TSPrint... just one thing after another for me. I'm sure I'm not having the normal experience!

I think I would have to see a good iPad compatible program before the Cloud would be worth it. If AC isn't careful, someone is going to come up with a really good cloud/iPad/Android solution and sweep them. It is surprising how poor the quality of the EMR programs are compared to other software in the industry. As I'm typing here, I have inline spell check: not an option on AC, but that is just a minor point. Look at some of the other apps out there...

Carla,

I use a Mac and AC in the Cloud and print just fine. Give tech support a call and get them to set it up for you. I'm not a technie so I can't explain how it works, but it does.

John

I agree with John. Call them up. Don't just sit back and accept that it is not working. It should work and it will work. You are paying for that service.

Why would people want to switch? Why would you want to increase your dependence on somebody else?

Easy, because I'd rather do other things than worry about a server. :-)
Different strokes...

I would be concerned about their new outlook on "data analytics" as well. I'm wondering if that policy of using practice information only applies to cloud users or will they be uploading data from the local users as well. There are many physicians who are against the use of their data even if it is anonymized.

We wouldn't want a repeat of the Practice Fusion fiasco

This is something I'm concerned about as well.
I've been on the cloud for a few months and pleased with it.

I went to the ACUG conference in Boston last month and was a bit troubled by the perspective of Primed using anonymized patient information for targeted CME. So far, I don't think there is anything obligatory about it, only if one signs up for a study they are running.

As far as using data analytics on the cloud, I am assuming that Primed/AC has no more access to my patient data on the cloud than it did when I was hosting it locally. It is being hosted as an app on a server that I believe is independent of AC (PlanetLogic). But this is something I would like to be more sure of.

It's all about data, data and more data nowadays.

Michael
Internal medicine, NYC

How does one go about getting lab interfaces with the cloud product?

I think the reality is that your data is more secure on your own server than in the cloud. On the other hand, at the Baltimore Pri-Med meeting in December, 2012, Jon Bertman and Mark Mosier, CMO at Pri-Med, both repeatedly stated that:
a. data would never be shared without the AC user explicitly opting-in to do so
and
b. that data would be shared with Pri-Med and no other entities.

Hopefully those policies are still in force...

Dea pnl:

To request an interface is the same for AC in the Cloud as regular AC. Go here: http://amazingcharts.com/interoperability/request-an-interface/ and you can get started.

John

Michael,

You ask a good question, and since we know that AC "phones home" during the startup process, they would set people's minds more at ease if they spelled out exactly what is sent/received during the communications process, or subsequent communications.

Having spoken to many Physicians and Providers, their perspective is that the data the practice collects and stores in the database is their property - the taking or using of that data is NOT going to be acceptable.

Thanks for the link. I'm trying it and I'll see how it goes.
Paul Lemaitre

If one switches to the cloud, who then actually "owns" your data?

I ask this because I have and more than one instance in the past with a hosted billing service that when time came to part ways was not cooperative in giving us our data. If the data is on my server, then it is clear who owns it, and if I choose to discontinue my relationship with the provider, it is still mine. This is not so when my data resides on someone else's server, and one big reason we chose to go with a system where we own the hardware. What is the arrangement with AC if you wish to discontinue your relationship?

David, the question you ask is an important one; we discussed it at some length at the Laramie meeting, and it is essential that people ask the question when they sign up for a cloud based service.
Indy unequivocally stated that when people use his solution, the data belongs to the doc.

In a separate conversation, when asked about data and data sharing, John Squire said he was continuing Bertman's policy that the data belonged to us, and would never be shared or sold to anyone else without our persmission.

Thanks, Jon

I wonder if it was also discussed what sort of fee would be expected to get your data back? One billing company said that the data was indeed ours, but charged (if I remember) a thousand dollars to retrieve it for us. And then, it came in a proprietary format that we could not import into our new system.