Home Forums Discussions Problems Someone please help me...

I started with AC in 2004, back when one of Bertman's sales pitches was, "If you don't like it, we will help you transition to another system. We don't believe holding your data hostage."

I was a ferocious defender of AC for more than a decade before they started slipping...management quit, they got bought first by PriMed, then Harris Medical, and after several DISASTROUS changes in billing model, including ACPM, I ultimately made the decision to bail on AC and join an ACO that uses Athena.

When we went live in 4/2018, the tech support on both sides said that it was not possible to transfer the AC data into Athena, either by CCD or CCD-A. Fine, I thought, I can just keep using AC to access my 14 years of records in V9.3.1. My license was still good until January 2019.

In the past month--I gather with the latest upgrade--I can no longer use the old version without a current license, and so I am completely cut off from AC.

When I pinged AC product support helpdesk, I was told I could either pay $150/h (1h minimum) for tech support to reinstate a temporary license number, or just re-up the license for $1498. I said, "Uh, yeah, I'd rather pay $150 than ten times that..." Okay, the girl said, I'll email you a credit card form, which she did. She indicated I would be contacted by AC tech support, which of course hasn't happened and I doubt ever will.

I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO. MY DATA IS **ACTUALLY** BEING HELD HOSTAGE. Nobody at AC will help me because I'm no longer an active user, but I have no way to access FOURTEEN YEARS OF PATIENT MEDICAL RECORDS.

Please, does ANYONE have any ideas how to transfer my data (even by PDF format), much less how to get any kind of help from AC to make that happen???

If it sounds like I am more than venting, that's because I am honestly in a panic about this.

Hi Claudia,

Were you using AC in the cloud, or the local version on your own computer?

If on your own computer, what happens when you try to open AC?

Sounds scary, sorry you are having to deal with this.

Gene

AC's yearly fee is for upgrades and ePrescribe. They shouldn't be stopping you from using an older version.

If AC can't help you, shoot me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

That sounds strange to me too that you can’t use it without a current support contract. We were always told that you could continue to use it even without the annual fee.

JamesNT, aka the data wizard, might be able to help also.

Well this sucks. I wrote a program that would export all of AC patient data out into a PDF file and then group that file into a folder with all the imported items of that patient. The name of the folder would be the name of the patient.

And the program would do one or all patients.

And that program is on one of Indy's servers on the other side of the country. Probably gone by now since the hosting bill for the server it was on hasn't been paid.

Let me see if I can dig around and find some remnant of that thing. I may just have to remake it. Send me a PM to discuss further.

JamesNT

Hi James,

That potentially would be a very useful program. I personally do not have a need for such a program now, and hope that I never do, but if situations change it might be essential.

I would be willing to make a contribution toward development costs.

Thanks.

Gene

James,

Like DocGene, I agree that type of program would be a godsend to any doc who may be closing shop and who wanted to organize all their patients and data into a simple format for reference or transfer. AC should create an option to dump ALL patient data into PDF files, if that is ever needed. I would also be willing to make a contribution to development costs.

Ed Davison

Hi Dr Methvin,

Sorry to hear that you are leaving. If you are on the local version of Amazing Charts, you can access and download all your data. In the admin options, there is a sections for "Import/Export". In this section, there are buttons to bulk export everything. From the demographics, to encounters, to CCDAs. It will all go to the Amazing Charts directory on your main drive. Usually these will be in CSV format. If you are moving to a new EHR, I would probably recommend using the bulk CCDA export as this will let you not only import demographics into the new system, but meds/problems/allergies as well

Imported items all have their own folder in the Amazing Charts directory (Imported Items). Each patient will have their own folder labeled with the patient ID.

You should be able to access this even without Support. Licenses do not expire with Amazing Charts so you can access the program to view your data at any time. If you were on the could, we would have moved you off and resorted you to a local machine with you data there. Either way, you should have access to it. If you are having issues, please let me know. You can contact me directly at mdabeck@harriscomputer.com. I'd be more than happy to walk you through this.

Thank you all for your replies.

My current situation is that if you try to open AC on any of the workstations, it gives an error message saying it isn't configured, or can't find the database (which is b.s. because the pathway hasn't changed).

I unfortunately uninstalled it on the server thinking that might fix the problems I was having, and so now when I try to REinstall it, I get a message saying, "An Active Support License is required to install Amazing Charts software upgrades. Current records indicate your support contract has expired. Please contact customer support for assistance."

I was told by the mythical beast program that Indy had created by my friend Anne-Marie, but didn't reach out to Indy until after my license expired last January, and exchanged a few messages until he fell radio silent. Now I am as distraught over his passing as those who knew him, but for totally selfish reasons...

JamesNT, I would DEFINITELY be interested in paying for development of a PDF exporter if you are unable to dig up any pieces of it. I'm thrilled to see that others are, also.

Do you have an AC back up?
If so, just restore it to one of your current workstations and redirect the others there.
Wouldn't that work?

Dear Mark@AC,

The Import/Exports function you describe would be a nightmare to dump the data of thousands of active patients, since it does it in a piecemeal fashion. A shell program to extract all the data, including PDFs would be ideal. I'm waiting for that single, red button...

Ed Davison

Once you get this problem sorted out, I'd be interested in hearing your reaction to using AthenaClinicals EMR, versus AC. I'm being offered the same option, but I'm hesitating on making the leap, since switching EMRs is so painful.

@Claudia,

If you uninstalled AC from your server, we need to find out if your SQL Server databases and imported items are still there or have been deleted. If deleted, we'll need to locate your most recent backups to continue.

JamesNT

My guess is she needs an install key but AC requires an active support contract to get one.

I wish she would come back and explain... I have not done it recently, but I thought if AC is already installed, one does not need a key to do a restore of a back up.

@ryanjo...happy to discuss down the road if you wanna PM me!

@JamesNT...the SQL databases are still there. I can see them on the server. (What's weird is, none of my workstations can navigate to them anymore...)

@Sandeep...that sounds right.

@JBS...see above: I uninstalled AC on the server in hopes of resolving the errors I was getting, and therein lies the problem. When I try to reinstall it, I get an error message saying: "An active support license is required to install Amazing Charts software upgrades. Current records indicate your support contract has expired. Contact Customer Support for assistance." [To be clear, though, I'm simply reinstalling V9.3.1, which is NOTTTTT an upgrade!!]

You should be correct. Once installed, the program is validated by that computer. You should be able to do anything with that version.

@Jon I took an engineering course once about NASA. Just a simple advance calculus and electrical and mechanical engineering. Sounds hard. I thought it was. But, nothing in all of my educational pursuits or physician education and research comes close to the difficulty of trying to understand what used to be a simple and straightforward process, i.e. installing to a "server," uninstalling, making a backup, restoring from a backup to a convoluted system which involved a unique sa and username for each office and a backup that had to be unencrypted before it could be used. Along with the activation key. Along with AC installing it.

I will never forget your saying in a CAB meeting, "I know. Why don't we make the activation key good for five to seven days?" And, AC said, wow, yeah that's a good idea.

Claudia, do you have a back up? If so, in what form?

Claudia,

Please copy your SQL Server database files and imported items file out to a removeable drive before proceeding any further. They are the latest and greatest copy of your data. If you lose them, backups will be your only recourse.

JamesNT

Everyone Else,

Regarding the export program, I'll start working on that this week. There was a report in AC that Indy and I were crafting it after. That report had a patient's demographics, problem list, allergy list, meds, and so on. Anyone remember what that report is?


JamesNT

OMG, it's like whatever I do, I get a rude popup telling me I can't do it!

Whenever I try to copy the .mdf anywhere, I get "FILE IN USE. The action can't be completed because the file is open in SQL Server (AMAZINGCHARTS). Close the file and try again." And it's not open anywhere! I even checked the task manager to be sure.

Claudia,

The reason you can't copy the files is because they are in use by the SQL Server Service on your machine. This tells me the uninstall of Amazing Charts was incomplete as, if memory serves, the uninstall should remove the copy of SQL Server it originally installs.

Right-click on the Windows Start icon, and then choose Run from the menu that comes up. In the run box, type in Services.msc and press enter. This opens the services windows that shows all services running on your computer. Locate and find the one that says "SQL Server (Amazing Charts)". Right-Click on that service and choose Stop. You may then copy your files out. Once you are done copying, you may restart the service.

JamesNT

James,
The report you are after may be the CCR. I would suggest that you set up a GoFundMe page for folks to contribute to your development cost. I am assuming you have some idea how much of your time and effort that it will take to develop the program.

JamesNT, that did the trick! I don't have a thumb drive big enough for 3.3GB but will get one tomorrow. Thank you.

Ok, the databases are there and the SQL sever is accessing them.
Can AC run on the server?

Is AC showing up on the control panel\programs and features, can you repair it?

Could you do an old backup of the server or a partial to get AC back?

Did you send AC any money, if so it should be easy to get a new license number and reinstall.

Marc was right about the export function but it takes a long time and make sure you have enough space. Ed was right about an external program may be faster

Hi everyone,

I started another thread on this topic.

I have no plans to leave AC but I would be very interested in hearing about Athena

Thanks

Gene

Claudia,

I am pretty damned good with computers. But, I have probably had more people remote in to my computer than the Beatles had groupies to fix the harder stuff (which is most).

I think you would do much better to have someone, not necessarily AC support who remember are not officially monitoring this board, remote in and do this for you, if possible.

I have recommended such a person. I don't think you have contacted him.

I need a copy of the CCR. Can someone whip me up one complete with all the goodies?

JamesNT

JamesNT

Count me in on helping contribute to your pdf export project. When a patient leaves and the next provider wants "everything", a big red button to export to one big pdf would be marvelous. This would save so much time.
...Ken

Believe it or not, the only things I need are a copy of an Amazing Charts database complete with imported items and a copy of the report (CCR) I'd be modeling it after.

I literally have everything else I need (development tools, development server, etc.).

JamesNT

Yeah, that's one reason we never went beyond AC 8.3.1. We control the data and full program installs/uninstalls, back up the db regularly in several places, and AC has PDF export available (albeit in a patient-by-patient fashion, so I hope we don't actually have to ever do it that way!).

^I have the know-how to fix it and I still wouldn't recommend anyone to stay on older versions. (Unless your computers are just isolated from the outside world. No Internet)

So one of the things I need in Florida is a hurricane backup. This is a laptop that runs both AC and my billing program without access to the internet. This laptop is dedicated to that and is updated with the latest AC and Windows every hurricane season, and then tested to make sure it works and it doesn't need access to the internet, it functions as the main (or only) computer. It also serves as a permanent resource to the patient medical records. Use strong encryption and passwords if you do this. AC support helped us set this up.

GREAT NEWS!!

That prolonged silence was me gnashing my teeth and reaching out to various others for help, and in the end and
after 2h on the phone and $300 to Amazing Charts, I GOT IT BACK UP AND RUNNING.

MANY MANY THANKS to James NT for helping me transport my databases off the server and directing my interactions with Harris/Amazing Charts product support and tech support.

You, sir, are the [censored]!

And thanks to everyone else for suggestions and moral support.

[Now stand by while I pontificate about Athena in that other thread started by Tomastoria...]

Hi Kevin,

I like the phrase "Hurricane Backup." Can you elaborate a bit? Do you use the laptop as the main, but you can use it without internet if no power or the internet is down? Or do you have it set up and then send backups to it?