AllMeds

[NJPAIN]

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Any of those of you already in practice using an EHR product called ALLMEDS. I know that it was developed by and widely used by ENT. I’m in another specialty and have been a customer for 15 years. Talking to them about getting my data to move on and they want to really slam me for $$. Wondering if any of you have had a similar experience with them.


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[DrBodacious]

I have AllMeds. I expereinced that from Greenway when I changed from Greenway to AllMeds.

To their defense:

• there are a lot of man hours involved when doing big database projects
• they probably have a tough time finding IT people to do these jobs
• they have little motivation to make it super easy to get people off their platform

It does amount to holding you hostage, however, which in my mind is not the way I want to do business with anyone.

I solved the issue by taking Greenway offline by changing the firewall settings - we used the server-based EHR to access the old charts and we'd manually import them to the new EHR with each patient visit.

I am curious how it worked for you? Did you have a cloud based setup with AllMeds? Unfortunately, you are completely hostage at that point. Maybe they'd let you have access only through the cloud for free or less $?

 

[NJPAIN]

I stuck with them rather than pay them for my data. I’m a cloud based (data center) client.
They really have declined over the years. My local database server crapped out. Called customer service 2 days in a row and each time after holding for a while had to leave a message. Also, the NEW version is MONTHS overdue.

 

[DrBodacious]

The logistics of a cloud systems is this: The EHR company doesn't run the data center - they lease it from a company that does enterprise data centers, e.g. Dell. The EHR probably upcharges some. But they won't be able to cancel your account - the contract will still be there with the data center.

I see this all as a negative, b/c you are tied down with additional layers of contracts.

That is on top of the fact that server systems typically last past the point where they are cost savings, typically 3-4 yrs to break even on the server expense. This is assuming you have IT services that aren't absurdly abusive. When I got quotes on servers, one IT company
charged twice as much for a system with lower specifications (both were Dell servers, so comparing apples to apples).

All this said, we would consider going to cloud based EHR that is subsidized by our local hospital. They are doing an Epic transition, and we may be able to pay less for Epic cloud vs what we pay for our recurring AllMeds fees, from what people are saying.

Hopefully, companies like AllMeds will be able to stay competitive. I think their EHR allows efficient thorough documentation and communication in the office and between us and referring physicians. I fear they have themselves leveraged and layered up with too many contracts to have any wiggle room to compete.

 

[NJPAIN]

I really wish we had a “users group” to share ideas, issues etc. That might also enable us to push them into being me competitively priced. As it is currently their CFO Ron Buzzeo is a real jerk and I often get nowhere with him. The CEO Bill Rust is much more reasonable than Ron is.

There is no reason that their cloud based product should cost more than eClinical. ALLMEDS cloud product requires a hardware based VPN from every location if you want to scan from that location- ridiculous. ALLMEDS gives you a limited number of workstations for one price, eClinical is unlimited. When eClinical first came on the scene I was able to negotiate my ALLMEDS contract down from 9k/yr to 6k/yr. Ron wouldn’t budge but Bill Rust agreed. Now, with yearly increases, we are back to 9k.
I’m certain that I’m not the only one not happy with the cost of a product that is clearly not technology up to par with the competition.

 

[balaguru]

I have AllMeds. I expereinced that from Greenway when I changed from Greenway to AllMeds.

To their defense:

• there are a lot of man hours involved when doing big database projects
• they probably have a tough time finding IT people to do these jobs
• they have little motivation to make it super easy to get people off their platform

It does amount to holding you hostage, however, which in my mind is not the way I want to do business with anyone.

I solved the issue by taking Greenway offline by changing the firewall settings - we used the server-based EHR to access the old charts and we'd manually import them to the new EHR with each patient visit.

I am curious how it worked for you? Did you have a cloud based setup with AllMeds? Unfortunately, you are completely hostage at that point. Maybe they'd let you have access only through the cloud for free or less $?

The withholding of data is a vendor lock strategy pure and simple. It would take only a few man hours to add a button that dumps facesheets and all notes associated with a user. If bandwidth utilization becomes an issue limit how often users can dump their data. If the scope of an EMR is to just document patient interactions, schedule patients and manage billing then it really doesn't take a lot of work. I wrote mine in a few months while taking 20+ days of gen surg and trauma ER call a month. The main reason that existing EMR's suck so much is that they don't spend enough time studying the workflows of physicians.