Home Forums Discussions Problems Version 9.3 Day One Shows It Is Not Ready!!

Ok, friends, Day One of Version 9.3 and here are the screwups that I've found and reported already:

1. The bolding function when we verify an appointment via AC (not ACPM) no longer works and it?s a bug.
2. The carrying over of demographic information for the QUEST laboratory entry functionality no longer works and it?s a bug.
3. The view appointment history report no longer works (one cannot pick a date, it is stuck on one date in 2015), and it?s a bug.

CAVEAT EMPTOR.

SANDY

Sandy,

Thanks for the heads-up - we have had several clients ask about the pros/cons of installing it.

If other folks want to share their impressions here, that would be helpful.

I will not that for folks coming from 9.1 or earlier who use external database access, there is a whole credentialing process. For our clients, we get the paperwork done that AC now requires before we attempt the upgrade.

We also image the server where possible before the upgrade, so that reverting is straightforward.

Are these little bugs worth NOT upgrading? I'm on vs 9.1 and I've been waiting for color coded scheduling for years!

thanks for the initial reports folks, one less thing for the todo list

Well, Chris, now that I have taken the plunge (abyss??), I am waiting to speak with tech support to let them teach me how to use the color coding cuz it is not self evident. BUT...there has been no response since around noon-time..(hiding, probably...)

sandy

Sandy
I am using 9.3.1 with no significant issues.
You can change colors by logging into Administrative section > Scheduling > Schedule Color (Last tab on the top)
This will change colors FOR the VISIT TYPE but NOT for the PROVIDER

thanks for your assistance but it does not work for me. For example, when I click on "SET APPOINTMENT COLORS", it creates a dialog box with a dropdown for appointment type but there are NO appointment types listed nor a way to add any appointment types. So I am STYMIED until techsupport wakes up.

sandy

Same here with color coding. I can find the screen, but there are no appointment types to choose from.

David Lee, MD
IM
Dallas, TX

David, did you notice that your patients did not become BOLD on the appt schedule when your staff confirmed their appointments?

sandy

Under admin there are no appointment types to color code? It is just blank, so I can't match a color to a type.

David Lee, MD
IM
Dallas, TX

I had some black appt types at the top. Once I took these out, all is working well. Thanks.

David Lee, MD
IM
Dallas, TX

I'm going to try the upgrade soon.

Any updox issues? There were some before reported in the connector all worked out?

Does the external database security part affect a 3rd party client reading AC database? Specifically we use PRIME FigMD registry. That is the AAFP contractor with an data extraction tool sitting on the server accessing the AC database for MACRA/MIPS quality measures.

Yes it will.

AC now requires you to execute some paperwork with them, or they will have to provision external users. In moving to 9.2, a client that had an external vendor had to be re-configured.

We get AC to complete the documents with the client before we do the upgrade now that we know - first time out it was a pisser.

For color coding in the schedule to work, please delete the old appointment types and recreate the new ones and assign colors and ti will work.

TECH support was able to get my "colors" working...

sandy

I don't understand. So, we have a new version. We have some bugs. We report them. Eventually they get fixed.

My point is it is important for Doctors to know what they are getting before they do the upgrade.

Most of our clients see this as a business decision first, and and a clinical one second. There are view few clients that upgrade just because there is a new version. Many are not interested in being the penguin, they would rather someone else do the release testing.

There is a reason that some clients pay us to keep an image of their existing instance before an upgrade. We usually do the upgrade over a weekend, and then they log in and take it for a test drive. In the event that the trade-offs are not to their liking, we revert in about 30 minutes.

I appreciate folks report what they are running into, that crowdsourcing of perspective the board is an essential value.

My point has nothing to do with that. And, I think a lot of people upgrade to upgrade. There will always be bugs, because AC uses the board as its main beta testing.

My point was and is, it seems a little extreme to get that frustrated over three bugs.

And, if you recall, when I suggested running in a sandbox two years ago, I was lambasted and made fun of by three of certain users on here.

So, you don't always need an image. You can run it and see that it has this and that problem.

By the way, if one makes an image, then works for two weeks before seeing these horrible three bugs, that's a lot of patients.

Again, my point is not that one shouldn't be aware of issues. Just that you know you will get bugs with AC, you should wait, and if you don't, be prepared to be the bug reporter.

I KNOW that practices have learned from experience, and no longer upgrade to upgrade.

As someone who has delivered systems for a living for over 30 years, I can assure you users get FURIOUS when things that worked break with a release. The expectation is that you add, you don't subtract.

Your perspective is different than other users, but I have answered your question.

When you drop your vehicle off at the shop to have a promised improvement completed, are you going to be disappointed (or worse) if it comes back with no bumpers and door locks that don't work?

Except when you drop your car off, you are dropping it off at a dealership that generally does what you say.

We all know how AC works. We all know their initial versions are buggy. So, once you know, then you know. And, people do upgrade to upgrade. You have your experience, and I have mine.

Had a practice call about moving onto our managed platform the other day - they are still on 6.3.3.

I have gotten lots of calls, texts, emails asking us about 9.3 from clients and friends this week - not ONE of them said "Let's Upgrade NOW!"

You are absolutely correct Bert, I have a statically relevant amount of experience from this last week.

As Roseanne Roseannadanna would say..."Well, Jane, it just goes to show you, it's always something ? if it ain't one thing, it's another."

Time has taught us AC's releases a more beta product than others although I suspect that is becoming more common across the software industry.

Gilda Radner. Classic. With the drop of sweat on the nose. Whatever happened to the comedian who played Jane?

Everyone is a beta tester, now. The Agile development paradigm has been abused and outright bastardized by managers. The idea is to just keep going over the software, one iteration after another, until we get is right. The problem is twofold:

1. Managers see it as a way to "fix things on the fly" so there is no further need for testers.

2. Managers don't care about fixing bugs. They care only about adding new features. New features represent billable time. Bug fixes to not.

I miss Waterfall.

JamesNT

Agreed.

It is interesting though. I am a beta tester for BackupAssist. And, the requirements to be a beta tester are rigid. You must do backups with each type of backup (about five) for so many days, retore, test, report.

But, what is cool about software like MBAM and Macrium and BackupAssist and Firefox, etc. is your click on install, it runs, and that's it. There are no bugs. They have already been worked out. There are never any showstoppers. I don't even think about it. I just run them. I will say that the installer for AC has been incredibly improved.

What is Waterfall?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model

JamesNT

What the hell happened to it?

Waterfall is a very rigid development philosophy. Also, it forces managers to really sit down and brain storm requirements for the software and prohibits, or very much discourages, changing requirements half way through the development process.

In the world of Agile, changing requirements half way through the implementation of a feature is common and, in many cases, encouraged.

When I was at GE, many of the requirements we got where totally half-azzed and managers had no problems changing their mind mid-stream. Unsurprisingly, we missed two ship dates.

JamesNT

Why do you think I.E. upgrades every year and Fiefox updates every week?

Read this carefully. You will literally feel the light bulbs come on in your head regarding some of the bugs AC has had over recent years.

http://www.cio.com/article/2385322/...ng-common-sense-to-agile-principles.html

JamesNT

Hi James,

Interesting article. Just sent you an email. I didn't want to move the thread in a different direction as it is still rather active.

Hello Dr. Martin,

These three bugs that you mentioned will all be addressed in our upcoming version 9.4. Regarding the issue related to the demographics not transferring from the quest interface, this should only be affecting clients on version 9.3.1 AND ACPM. If they are not on ACPM but are on version 9.3.1, they should not run into any issues. This issue will also be addressed in version 9.4.

If you do run into any issues or have any questions, feel free to contact support, and we will be more than happy to take a look.

Thanks,

Nick@AC

Can we hear more about this, please?
Is it something in the reports section (which we rarely use) or the binoculars on the main screen (which we use many times a day)?

I've been on 9.1 for months--mostly stable. No showstoppers. Had to manually send records to the portal for every visit to get Meaningful Use credit.

I'm game for 9.3 if no new showstoppers. Mainly hoping the occasional "AC has to close" crashes will be fixed.

So far I would not characterize the releases as "not ready". Just have the odd minor bugs that we expect. Glad they are quashing them slowly.

For further clarification regarding Nicks post above.

The appointment mot showing as BOLD when confirmed is a bug limited to only ACPM users and this will be corrected in 9.4

The demographic information not transferring to Quest is limited to only ACPM users and limited to the patients Insurance information. ACPM uses a different file than regular AC users. This will be fixed in 9.4 and in the meantime if you use ACPM and wish to take advantage of the Quest interface you can enter the patients insurance once in Quest and it will be carried forward for all future orders.

The issue with the Set Appointment Colors showing a blank screen is because you have an appointment type without a time assigned to it. By default all appointment types must have a time so it wasn't discovered in testing or beta as it's a very unique situation. We'll change this in 9.4 so it doesn't impede you from seeing the screen but for now you just need to enter a time for the appointment type or remove that type if it is erroneous.

I'm not familiar with a report in AC for Appointment History so that must be an ACPM feature.

Just for further clarity around our beta process....9.3, as with every release, has been field tested by over 20 practices, most do not participate in the Board, for months before it is released for general distribution. In the past 3 years I can't recall a single release where we introduced a defect that severely or even moderately impeded a physicians normal daily workflow. Yes you're going to encounter some small defects with every release regardless of the level of testing/beta. There are over 300 Practices running 9.3 today and so far the only bugs reported that we need to fix in the next release is the Quest Insurance transfer and this color coding due to invalid data. I have to say at this point we are extremely pleased with the quality level of our past and present releases and we hope you are as well.

A couple important things:

Schedule Colors: We have been waiting for colors for about a decade, but I think you missed the whole point of the color scheme (unless I'm missing something). The reason we requested colors is that when a patient is "checked in," it should change the color, font, etc so that we can all see that the patient is ARRIVED. That is necessary so the reception is communicating with nursing and doctors that the patient is here in the lobby and waiting. Because AC did not have colors, we had a WORK AROUND for years: Double the appointment TYPES: Acute Problem, and Acute Problem ARRIVED. Now you have colors, but it does not change the color when they check in: so you still have Acute Problem and Acute Problem (colored), but the receptionist has to change the appointment type whenever they check in. This looks pretty, but was NOT a fix.

Messages: Why did you take away the ability to click on a patient in the list, then ATTACH to a message. That used to be two clicks: the patient, attach, then type the message. Now you have to click the patient, click "patient" in the box, then click the patient, so it's 3 clicks. I don't see why you did that, and the staff are complaining about the extra clicks. Please put that back. Any change needs to be evaluated for efficiency.

Confirming Appointments: All users should have the option of clicking a confirm button as they make confirmation calls. Then, it should become bold, have an option of a color change, etc. We are still using a work around for this too, where you change the appt reason: Acute Problem Sore Throat *C (What we do for confirmed. But again, this takes extra work. BTW, I have not been able to get patients to reliably confirm using Updox. I think it is too much work to log in.

From the main screen: View>verify appointment history. DOES NOT WORK.
Now, yes, I am on ACPM and No, I have no idea whether this is an ACPM feature only. All I know is the product doesn't work.
Why should I care it doesn't work? Well, because you screwed up the BOLD feature associated with VERIFY patient appointments.
Why do I care about that? Cuz my staff verifies appointment so I don't sit around with my finger... never mind.

Now, as to someone's thoughts that I should fall into line because I always should expect a few bugs with every new version:
Fuggetabout it. I do NOT expect to have features that worked be SCREWED UP WHEN I upgrade. I expect new features ( and maybe some of THOSE will take some tweaking.) BUT I DON'T EXPECT old features to be destroyed.

Well, it will all be fine with the next version. You are on ACPM, so it is just YOU.
Let me see if I understand this ludicrous logic. Very Trumpian. Here I am supporting AC by buying into their PM feature, only to have to listen to: Don't make such a big deal of this...it's just those who support this little damn company the MOST who are getting screwed.

Well, it only takes a new version, what's the big deal?
You better believe its an f''g big deal. This 9.3 upgrade took technical support about 2 hours (well into the evening) to get this version working. This is HARD..plus it's always dangerous.

So, sorry for complaining. I am really happy. I just don't sound like it.

Sandy

I think they should pick more than 20 practices to Beta test the product. They should also give those practices a discount on GA support for the next year.

Chris wasn't saying it is limited to ACPM, so it's just you. He was differentiating where the bugs are so those who do not have ACPM would know not to worry about them.

And, just because users don't choose to purchase ACPM doesn't mean they aren't supporting AC as much as you.

Like you said:

CAVEAT EMPTOR

I guess instead of caveat emptor, what I really should have said, Bert, was:
"Sed nemo potuit tangere: merda fuit"