Home Forums Discussions Problems List of problems and hope for the new release

With much anticipation for the new release of AC to fix many of the problems we had reported and recommended before, we were surprised that many of the problems are still there. We hope the new SQL version addresses these. For whatever is worth here are some of the major issues we have encountered. Some are critical to the practice and our liability and some are just difficult to work with.

-In Import Items: Allow the TYPE to be editable or we be able to add new Types. We don’t need spirometry, but need many other type of document labels that are scanned (i.e.: Refill Requests, Insurance Pre-auth received etc.)

- Labs received from Labcorp and Quest into AC should be sorted by NPI number not last name. We have people with the same last names. Also AC freezes the chart when Lab is opened, how can we sign-off on a Lab w/o seeing the chart. We have to close the Lab and open chart, then open lab again back-and forth to review it. Also AC drops critical data, such as collection time, Sex, Fasting, etc.

RX: When we refill an Rx, keep the prior order still logged as well as who ordered it, with Sig, number of refills, etc. Currently it over writes it. If you go to summary Print Preview, it shows that it was refilled, but not the details (Numbers, etc) and who refilled it.
Also by right-clicking on a patient name and click on “Medication Pad” to write a script, it does not log it in patient chart what so ever. We have to go through the chart.

- Imported Item: When we sign off on an imported item, allow us to enter a comment and send a message to someone to act on it. If you right-click on an imported item, you can sign-off, but it opens everything that needs signoff, and can’t enter a comment or send a message to the MA.

- When we right-clcik and select “Order / Requisition Slip”, Print does not save it to chart. The “Save W/O Print” just puts it in my in-box instead of saving it to chart, which is useless. When we place an order we just need to print it and save it to chart, as well as putting a reminder or send a message.


- Sending a Msg: When sending a message, if we do Save to Chart, and send the message. Then going to Prior encounter, the To: “Name” is missing. However if you look at the Alert for the same message, From: is missing and To: is there. For documentation we need to know who send the message and to whom it was sent to.

This must be only for your AC, that is not the way it works in everyone else's. If you right click to bring up Orders, and print it or Save without printing, it will automatically go to the inbox of the provider who is listed at the top in the dropdown box. In five years, I have never had this not happen.

The way Jon has it set up is perfect. You wouldn't want it to go directly to visit history unless it was set up where it did if YOU wrote it. But, our MAs write many of our orders, and I want to be able to review them. So, it goes to my inbox where I view it, and I save it to the chart. Since I am saving it to the chart, I am also saying that I agree with what the MA ordered.

Please give more detail here. I usually don't save a message and then send it. In fact, I don't think you can. Maybe I am missing something.

Shawn -- The new version 4.0 may have some of these fixes. The updates probably won't. I agree with many of the ideas and suggestions you have, if not all. The problem is by entering them here in the boards, all that happens is others agree or add to your idea or opine as to why it won't work. I don't think Jon looks on here a lot to see what ideas have come up. Those should be sent directly to him through AC or email.

I find a lot of small and big issues with AC, and I would love to have many of them fixed. The problem isn't the problems, it's how do we get these to Jon and how does he sort through them. If there are 1200 users and only half submit one suggestion in a month, that's 600 suggestions Jon has to sort through. And, since most of them are good suggestions, how does he decide which ones to implement. I think that is probably the hardest part of programming.

What do you think?

Bert is getting a first hand lession is Programmer, Vendor Ownership with FAP... I know; I drowned him with ideas the first week or two we went live. Didn't I Bert?

But I do agree as someone whose doc is going to be writing one of the most controled substances in the nation soon, we certainly do need an Rx section that does a much better job of tracking the exact nature of each and every Rx written. One of us is going to be taken to task by the DEA one of these days thru no fault of our own.

I for one am very concerned for Nancy and her pending writing of the Suboxone. It is sort of amazing though that they are more anal about controling the drug that helps with widthdrawl symptoms as opposed to the drugs that start and are the cause of the addiction in the first place.

Very strange and I'm not too sure I agree with this half@$$ed policy. The thinking is that many abusers use or abuse the substance as a means of controlling their "jones" by scoring black market suboxone until there is product on the street or a new Rx from some unknowing doc to be had. I'm sure this is really happening; but still to control the drug that helps break the negative cycle more than the drugs that are at the heart of the negative cycle itself, is backwards and self defeating. But there it is and now we are stuck dealing with it. So we need a really, really good Rx tracker, no excuses.

Shawn,

Man, it sounds like you have really jumped into using AC. I'm still taking baby steps. Haven't started all the importing, the coding is slow....working on some ideas. I commend you as to how thoroughly you are using AC.
One problem I've noted is in trying to print a 1st encounter. After hitting "sign" the chart,(still having problems with hot keys and the windowkey-space bar trick, adam) There are usually a few questions, and when I go to print, it says something to the effect that there is nothing to print. I reopen the chart, go to file, print, progress notes and then it will print. What am I doing to cause this? It's a pain to have to reopen the chart, also very unACian (could be a word) in order to be able to print a note.

Bert
Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it. Don't take me wrong I really like AC, but the anomalies and problems that seem small are the ones that cause issues and liability concerns. My situation is different. I am a businessman and clinic owner and have 4 providers, which so far two of them are using AC and the other two are waiting. So naturally, every time AC does not function correctly, I hear about it. Then my assistant and I go and spent hours try to reproduce it. The problems I listed here do exist and I can reproduce. You are right, Jon and programmers are busy and it is hard to get their attention. Every time I call AC office and show it to them they say make a recommendation and post it, as if they are the third party. Beside that, I am not sure how to communicate to the right person who could fix it. I am assuming they are hearing from others to. We have invested hundred of hours in AC and its work-around with two offices running of a MS Server, went as far as setting up an AC production house in a developing country via VPN, fully trained them to do the back-office stuff such as scanning and attaching. That portion is working great. However, after all that, if AC programmers don’t fix the major issues that cause wasting my providers time or cause liabilities (i.e.: Rx log, missing data fields in Lab results or disabling the chart view while reviewing Labs, etc) then I am not sure what to do. I am kind of stuck with it, but need it to work properly.