Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Demerit to AC support, kudos to ACUB friend

OK, so this is going to be a long winded post about the good and bad of yesterday. So, if you are pressed for time, go on to something else.

Many of you who are running your own small offices have probably had similar experiences. I am running a tiny P2P network in my solo office. I try to do tech work on days when we are closed since it is hard to lose a day of income in primary care. Yes, I could pay for more IT help, but I usually enjoy doing things myself and learning. I concur (as was pointed out to me) that it is always better to do upgrades when full support is available, but anyway, here we go...yesterday was the day.

I needed to upgrade my main computer. It runs both AC and my PM software, Lytec. I acquired the computer 2 months ago, and had done all of the preliminary set up, including the AC install. I decided to stay with version 6.3.3 since I know it is stable. Once I hooked it into the network, the two clients could not connect. I reasoned that it was a firewall issue, did the things I know how to do, but could not resolve it. I left a message for AC tech support. I had spoken with them ahead of time, and had been told that although most support staff would be off, "someone would be available". I left a message on voicemail for the "emergency" support, but now it it 24 hours later and no return call. Never fear, gentle reader, for another came to my aid. We'll get to my hero a little later in the story. Let me just say, though, that I have always paid for AC support and rarely use it, so the one time I really did need it, it failed me. And so, yes, about that price increase....

So, on we go to a new version of Lytec. I do use a local reseller who has always installed and supported Lytec for me. So, we began with the install yesterday morning. He had taken my database backup ahead of time, and converted it to the new version which worked fine on his machine. The install appeared to go normally, but, on trying to open the program, fatal error. You know that sinking feeling you get at that point. Well, this error was one that my reseller had not previously encountered. So, he checked with a couple of his buddies for solutions to no avail. It appeared to be some kind of SQL or database error. Now, the only option is to wait for McKesson tech support to reopen on Monday. Both AC and Lytec use SQL, although different versions, so we should have been OK. So, now is where the hero comes in. From this user board, I am acquainted with Mr SQL, as I call him. I enjoyed meeting and spending some time with him at the conference in Laramie sponsored by BestForYourPractice (you really should go to these, FUN as well as educational). You regulars know to whom I refer. I called him, and he remoted into my system, fixed the AC problem lickety-split. The Lytec one is more difficult, and requires some additional information regarding the the method of database attachment (as I understand it), so we will deal with McKesson on Monday.

I just want to say again what others have expressed, that this user board is the best thing about AC. I could not continue my solo practice without the friends, virtual and real, that I have met here. My hero, Mr SQL, could not have been more kind nor generous with his time and expertise over this holiday weekend. I am incredibly grateful.

So, a belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I am thankful for all of you who take time to share yourselves here.

And, yes, next time, I will plan to do things a little differently. Lesson learned.

Is this hero the one that can break through walls with the mere tip of his nose or ride a Harley faster than a charging bull moose?????

You'll find him riding his Harley in the Toys for Tots event tomorrow.
Vroom vroom!

Good job, JamesNT!

You are most certainly welcome, Donna.

Thanks, Bert!

This is me in full cold weather gear.




JamesNT

There is another hero on this board (actually several but this one is my best friend right now). Donna, I can relate. My server was working fine when I backed it up and shut it down after closing my solo office. It sat undisturbed for about three weeks and then was carefully carried out and put in my truck seat and transported to my house where I set up a home office to finish sending records, doing payments and statements, preparing to attest for MU. So I get all the computers hooked to the router with the instructions of my buddy and ready to go and the server won't turn on...nothing...nada...not one damned green, yellow or red light to be seen anywhere! Anthem has already been demanding copies of charts, patients are emailing saying they never made it in to pick up their records and want them now, Medicare wants a repayment on a claim.....I am beside myself, looking for the Margarita mix. I email Indy and get up to find the Tequila and before I can even add the lime juice he calls! I crawl around on the floor checking this, checking that, trying to drink my Margarita upside down with a straw, salt flaking off in my nose. Dead..dead...dead..poor dead Dell. Wish I could say it was working now but dead is dead. I don't think this power supply is going to resurrect. But, Indy has been helping me try to find replacement parts and then will skillfully guide me in the transplant. He is super. What a great guy and great friend. What a wonderful Board this has been.
Thanks to all.

Leslie,
So good to hear from you, I miss my other Paperport gal!

I completely agree with you, there are so many skilled friends here on the board. I could just have easily called Indy or Bert or Sandeep or..... (I called James with the SQL questions since that is one his specialties.) How did we get so lucky as to have the depth of expertise and willingness to help that we share on this board?

So sorry about your broken server, glad Indy has come to the rescue.

Love your description of heading for the margarita!

PS Someone from AC called at mid day today, 3 days after leaving an emergency message!

Donna,

Hope to see you in San Diego! And I miss Paperport too...unbelievable that his huge medical behemoth has no document management system of any kind! Lots of money spent on marketing and paper and nothing on things that really matter.

I think Indy has solved my problem, thank God!

And, I finally got my payroll program (Intuit Online Payroll) to realize that when I terminated my employees, including myself, they terminated my ability to log onto the site and finish payroll, pay taxes, etc.!! Took them three weeks to figure it out! The State of Indiana was close to sending out ugly men to track me down. But all is now well there too.

You take care. Hope to see you in the spring!

Leslie,

I would love to go to San Diego, but I am not sure that I can do it. We missed you in Laramie, it was terrific.

So glad Indy was able to help. What would we do without our tech wizards?

So, here is another story on my upgrade odyssey. I read with great interest the recent thread here about Cryptolocker, and the high praise for Malwarebytes. So, I got MBAM and installed it on my new main computer. I have been using Jungle disk for my cloud version of backup. So after using the new main computer for the first 2 days of this week, I realized that Jungle Disk was not uploading my files. I pulled my hair out, making exceptions in the firewall and antivirus, adjusting permissions, uninstalling, reinstalling, blah blah, blah. After hours of troubleshooting, I finally found a tiny comment on the Jungle Disk website saying that Malwarebytes seriously interferes with their service. Good grief! Turned it off, and Jungle Disk is back in business. Why, oh why, does everything have to be so challenging?

One of the mysteries of this board is that when I'm logged in the avatars are missing. But I read your last post unlogged Donna, and your last sentence sounds just like Pooh. Which means it will work out fine. Hang in there.

Ha ha, Dan, it does sound just like Pooh!

Things have worked out, yesterday was glitch free.

What I have realized is that I assembled my set up piecemeal over the last 3 years with added systems and software, and I failed to fully appreciate the complexity of moving it all to a new system. I had done a lot of planning prior to the upgrade, but there was still a lot of work to be done, and unforeseen problems occurred.

Donna/Pooh,
Thanks for the heads-up on the Malwarebytes. I was about to follow Bert and you into that program based on previous recommendations. Now I will not. If I change my mind, I know where I can get a cheap copy.

Jon,
It still seems like a great addition in protection. Now, we have learned that we have to check to be sure that it plays well with our other software. I am going to check out another online storage service.

Donna, I really admire those of you who both try to keep their systems running and practice medicine. Either one seems to be a full time job around here, at least given the forlorn hope that it is also possible to do things like find time to eat or even watch a volleyball game.

I have always considered myself a nerd. but, when we went to the EMR, I told everyone in no uncertain terms that I was NOT going to be providing tech support, and any decision to go electronic had to figure in the cost of hiring out IT services. Of all the decisions we made involving the EMR, that is the one I am most confident was correct.

David,

I am not sure that this is cause for admiration. Perhaps you should note my foolhardiness. You are spot on, there was no time for food preparation or recreation over this last week. But, it's done!

I am really glad to go back to just practicing medicine.