Home Forums Discussions Problems AC Crashing on Script Writer

I will certainly give it a try. Thanks

We are trying AC V11 Beta. AC crashes are much better. Rather than happening half a dozen times, now we get one crash. I also installed the Insider Edition of Windows 10 and don't think it helped.

Does anyone know what's planned for V11? It's been a while since a major upgrade and I was getting worried. Any irksome bugs getting fixed? Like the date changes on orders. Any thoughts about a text search selector for orders so we can stop scrolling?

Our AC crashes have gotten much better since we started using Version 11. So far, there are a lot of bugs that need fixes. I only see minor changes in the script writer (done in the background by Surescript) and Midmark ECG. The rest of the program appears to be about the same.

What kind of bugs? New ones to v11? Examples please so we can know if it’s worth trying or wait til more stable.

I strongly recommend waiting until they smooth out the kinks. Performance of script writer and Midmark ECG integration need a lot of work.

I'm returning to the forum to see if this problem has been fixed. AC just crashed in a room with my first patient, walked back to my office and that one crashed as soon as I pressed the script button.
The script writer and the orders button causing the system to crash has been terrible. Right in the visit where you are asking them about refills you have to pause and look like an idiot for 5 minutes while AC reboots. It's almost bad enough for me to consider switching EHR programs. My local expert looked at the error files and says that "unhandled exceptions" come from problems in the coding, and the coding must be fixed.

Concerning the last post, we bought new machines and they are completely up to date. The crashing problem is apparently happening mostly on new machines running the latest software. I don't think it is an issue of machines not being updated, but the reverse, AC code has not kept up with changes. Significant work has to be invested to maintain compatibility over the years. My big question is this: does V11 solve the notorious script writer crashing problem with Windows 10 Professional.

It's strange, because in the past when there were betas out there, I would see many posts talking about the issues. I haven't heard one thing about it.

Chris, do you have a test computer? It is difficult now. I used to just pop betas in test computers or VMs, but they didn't recognize the "new" computer, and it wanted all the activation and AC support that new computers have.

But, it would not only be helpful for this but would answer other questions as well if you could try it.

Version 11 beta has been going extremely well and as such we've had very few calls from anyone. Naeem was the very first client to upgrade and we worked out a few kinks but they were mainly around Midmark devices. Since then we have not had a single issue reported that introduced any new defects or that will require any coding changes so we're very hear considering this GA.....We'll make that decision soon.

Unfortunately the AC script writer issue crashing has not been resolved. We invested a significant amount of effort into research and have been unable to identify the cause.

-What we do know with a high degree of certainty is:
-We did make some code changes to version 11.1 to update the manner in how we handled execution of the button logic but it didn't solve the issue (Naeem thought it helped a little)
-This originated last summer when MS pushed out an update.
-No changes to AC code were ever done in the area and clients running AC for long periods of time reported this after the update
-Does not impact everyone, and results on identical hardware are inconsistent.
-We have talked with another Harris Healthcare partner who are also VB based and they too have experienced this exact same issue
-We have never been able to replicate this in house BUT even if we did:
-MS is probably never going to fix it..VB 6 is in a "It just works" support level and " The support bar will be limited to serious regressions and critical security issues for existing applications"

It's doubtful MS will do anything about this unless they receive an avalanche of complaints however that may not be likely considering the tens of thousands of PC's in use by AC practices today vs the very small number of reports we have received (10-12 practices, limited number of PC impacted at each practice).

I'm sorry I don't have more information for those impacted. We can't even provide any guidance on which systems are impacted. In fact there is more first hand knowledge of the subject on this board alone then we have anywhere else.

Hi Chris,

Thanks. First, is the script writer crashing a non-starter
Second, when will Surescripts force doctors to use the new script format as far as using units etc.?
Third, is it impossible to go back from one version to another?

Does 10.2 allow note-wide templates and have no issues with messaging?

Hi Bert,

10.2 has visit templates which came out in version 10.1. Check the Known Issues section of the release notes for outstanding messaging issues. All the critical ones were resolved back in 10.1.6

Unclear on your question about the script writer? Basically there is little we can do about this one. Those with PC's that are impacted severely will need to to swap them out with another that works but based on inconsistent results we can't provide guidance on this...it's hit or miss.

Surescripts has not announced a date yet or even a time frame on what we can expect. We're assuming a 90 day delay as most of the CMS programs have done. Our position will be that all clients will need to update prior to 12/31 to be safe. For those already on 10.2, updating to 11.1 should be relatively uneventful with minimal impact. The biggest change is the new Pharmacy workflow when prescribing which has been received favorably by the beta sites.

You cannot go backwards and preserve recently entered data, you can only restore everything.

Hi Chris,

Thank you.

I used to always use a VM to test new versions. If I am using a VM on a computer that is running an AC database, will the newest version recognize the VM as a new install or already set?

Interesting I'm on 11.1 and now I get crashes on Script writer on a computer that rarely(like once every other month) had crashes on previous versions happens now maybe once a day. Sometimes when I reboot AC after the crash I get the ...do you want to resurrect the last note offer...and sometimes not.

Welcome to the fun. Looks like AC is giving up on fixing this. I have just bought new machines for much of my office - all brand new late generation processors and the latest Windows. So Chris, I'm told I should replace them with older computers so AC doesn't crash on them? This is a real failure for the programmers at AC not to figure this out. Look at the error codes being thrown. You can't track down what is causing the unhandled exceptions?

USER32.dll error how nice

We are also using AC Beta and actually our script writer errors are almost gone. We do have issues with A message grid not loading at sign in or not refreshing and AC crashes when we try to pull a chart from the messages and highlighted item is "not the actual item". That is my diagnosis and dont actually know the exact cause. Usually there is .netframework error but AC team thinks the issue is with the PC.

Hi everyone,

I am sorry to make you live through you pain on the script writer again (god I sound like Bill Clinton). I am testing versions 11 and 11.1. I am just wondering if those with issues with the prescription writer can detail exactly what is happening and when, etc. It is one thing to just test a program. It is another thing to use it day in and day out. I would be most appreciative.

When you hit the Script Writer button, the chart program crashes. It does this every day, almost every time! It's incredibly difficult to switch EMR services, but we are seriously considering it at this point. I don't think it is impossible to fix, but AC says I'm a minority, and they indicate that it really isn't worth their time to help a minority of users. They are not willing to invest the resources with programmers to fix their code. My expert tells me it is a coding issue. He also tells me they are generations behind in their .netframework. I think they have a lot invested in this program and they just aren't willing to invest the man hours in fixing it or keeping it up to date for the latest versions of windows. All my machines are latest i5, i7 Intel and latest Windows. The AC source code is aging. Someday someone will come out with a truly excellent EMR and it will eat everyone's lunch. My friend is discussing with Apple.

Seems like development going into ways to capture meaningless use money and whatever addon programs that can be billed out for same, looks that way by all the info newsletters/emails I get. 11.1 crashes on more than just the script writer just clicking onto a patient chart can make it crash.