Free Version of The Chart! by DescriptMED

DescriptMED will offer a free version of The Chart! for a limited time. 

The program will offer the following features:

• SOAP Notes
• Patient Demographics
• Referral Phone Book
• Phone Book
• Record Viewer
  
• Reminders
• Office Mail
  
• Prescription Writing
• Response (Correspondence) Section w/ Limited Templates
• Cover Sheet with Health Maintenance, Acute/Chronic Problems and Rx History
  
• Problem List
• Administrative Form Viewer to view scanned forms e.g. jpeg, bmp
• MySQL Database Management System (there is a nominal fee to pay MySQL for this)
• Unlimited Users
  
• No Patient Limits
  
• No Support - Support will be billed if support is needed
  

Contact questions @ descriptmed . com for details.

Does this version have limited inking capability, and if so, how is it done?

PainDoc

PainDoc - You funny guy!

    No, the limited inking is what you already have in the full version.  I hope you did your latest update BTW.

Whoa ! Big news.

What does the free limited version NOT have ?  By the massive list above, the free version seems to have everything.

 

r2t2ellis:

DescriptMED will offer a free version of The Chart! for a limited time. 

The program will offer the following features:

• SOAP Notes
• Patient Demographics
• Referral Phone Book
• Phone Book
• Record Viewer
  
• Reminders
• Office Mail
  
• Prescription Writing
• Response (Correspondence) Section w/ Limited Templates
• Cover Sheet with Health Maintenance, Acute/Chronic Problems and Rx History
  
• Problem List
• Administrative Form Viewer to view scanned forms e.g. jpeg, bmp
• MySQL Database Management System (there is a nominal fee to pay MySQL for this)
• Unlimited Users
  
• No Patient Limits
  
• No Support - Support will be billed if support is needed
  

Contact questions @ descriptmed . com for details.

Reminder, this is still available.

There are pretty nice shots of your program in the lecture that I gave on 12/2005. Anyone can check it out at http://www.emrupdate.com/files/8/al_borges/entry45082.aspx . They have the look and feel of an EMR created by a physician... everything on the form presented seems to be in the right place.

Heck, here is the Descriptmed slide:

Cheers,

Al

R2T2Ellis,

We tried a similar plan to get our software deployed to more sites.  In reality I think the reason many of the big companies can get the money they ask for the product is that even if you give it a way, the Physicians still have to spend months or years to decide if they want the free product.  Your product is an excellent solution for those looking for a EMR/EPR with a Document Management relationship for a small office. 

I applaud what you are doing, but in the long run I am not so sure it will get you a lot of new users over those that would pay for your product.

I have tried a similar thing by lowering our Concurrent User License to a price that makes our product very affordable.  My example would be a 22 doctor oncology practice in three counties was proposed software from us for $130,000 training and installation, site license.  They liked our product a lot, even said better then the one they choose, but that the name brand and the integrated PMS was a deciding factor.  1.5 years later and they still are not using the product.  In our product the average total implementation time has been under 3 months, even in a big practice.  In the end the product that is still not working was over 1.5 million dollars with Training and half the doctors don't like it.  We are still in discussions, but really who wants to say they made a 1.5 Million Dollar mistake, they will make it work.

The moral of this story is, I think Physicians complain about price, but even if you give it away, price is just one factor in this decision. I personally think price is a smaller factor, now that I have lowered our prices in 2006 and still deal more with features and functions then price.

Let me know how it goes.

Brendon

Hello Brendon & Al,

    Thanks for the thoughts.  The free version goes back to a few weeks ago when I was thinking "How can I give something away that will be useable and give something back to the profession?"  I initially thought of a free prescription writer  and started to generate that. 

    Later, I decided that  DescriptMED  already had a product in place that would give a little more.  All that was needed was a few lines of code and a product key that would turn off the full version.  This would allow the users to have a patient database, write SOAP notes & letters, review the notes/letters and write prescriptions.  There are a few more useable features as well.  It won't have many of the ever growing features available in the program such as the Appointment Book that allows "block time" or the complete H&P process.

    The Chart! Free Version may bring in a few users.  But, like Brendon, I haven't found that it generates significant interest.  I once read that the internet is a place where people go to find something quickly and mostly for FREE.  I won't lie about this free version, there is a fee to pay MySQL, but in the great scheme of things it is rather nominal.

Anyway, here it is.  It's a watered down version of the program that will allow someone to get their feet wet in EMRs before going further.  And, yes...if they want to upgrade that would be nice too.

Hi Brendon and Terry:

>>>  even if you give it a way, the Physicians still have to spend months or years to decide if they want the free product

   In my humble point of view, the upside is that if they don't want the free product, then it costs them nothing to move on. If they purchase a very expensive, CCHIT-certified albatross, then they lose all of their hard-earned money if they don't decide to use it. (Such as in the case of the oncology group that you referenced, Brendon.)

When I gave my lecture this past December I came across an incredible amount of data:

1. (slide 28) A small solo practive has the most chance of a successful deployment. (This is the group that purchases the most inexpensive EMRs.)
2. (slide 42) Over 50% of EMR system implimentation result in failure. (from:  study published in the April 1997 International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care)

   •
3. (slide 42) Only about 40% of successful (i.e. the ones that make it) EMR users actually avail themselves to the “majority of functionality that the EMR offers” (see next slide).
4. In summary then, only about 20% really avail themselves of the true power of a high priced EMR.

In light of these figures, then, it is a wonderful gesture and an aggressive move by Terry to give out his EMR for free. Most physicians will be happy with a simple featureset as long as it works for them. Maybe CCHIT and insurance companies that want to decrease our reimbursement through P4P and other nasty schemes will be unhappy, as are the high priced EMR competitors that spend their time trying to be compliant with lists detailing 328 issues that most docs won't really understand, but Terry and his customers will be happy- it's a win-win situation.

Microsoft did this in the late 1980's and throughout the 1990's- s.a. through the very gutsy move to give away its Internet Explorer, eventually burying the more costly Netscape. They made money through its other offerings and through support. Support is not a bad way to make money, as long as its spelled out fully.

>>> I applaud what you are doing, but in the long run I am not so sure it will get you a lot of new users over those that would pay for your product.

Version 2 of the FREE MS Word ERM Project has gotton over 2400 downloads and has even been translated to Arabic:

(The above was faxed from a cardiologist that saw an Egyptian patient... )

People love FREE (or low priced) and are willing to dedicate their time to a software that will give them value and resolve their problems. Keep it up, Terry... give it time to work, though.

>>> I personally think price is a smaller factor

You don't really believe this do you? Can I talk to your wife and kids one day and ask them what goodies you, as a consumer (not a seller), have bought them since cost is not an issue? Do your sons each have a Porsche, your wife a 6 carat diamond and you guys live in a 20000 foot estate home... heck, what's money, huh? One day they will read this and take you to the bank, Brendon!

Cheers,

Al

BTW, the lecture slides (as well as the MS Word EMR Project) can be found in the free download section of this website).

Terry- why don't you post your free software there too? You can put in a product activation scheme that forces the users to have to call you to get the unlock code. In Visual Basic, all you have to do is to:

1) Reference the Windows API to get information about, say, the motherboard or hard drive serial number.

2) Make up an algorhythm to come up with a "KEY" number, s.a.-

((Left([serial number], 6) x 4) + 5) x 2

3) Have your software calculate this number the same way so that it should match the KEY number that you give them, thereby opening up the software for use.

If you need the Windows API code to get the drive serial number in VB6, check out-

http://www.answers.com/get%20drive%20serial%20numbers

Cheers,

Al

That's pretty cool...I haved a similar sxheme in place that generates a code that has to match.  Right now they have to contact me.  I'll look at it tomorrow.  Thanks for the link!

Al,

I do believe price is a small factor.  That is why I reduced it to a level where it will not be a big issue.  The software if well written should generate income, therefore, giving viability to the company and the product.

Not everyone can do this as a hobby, while they practice medicine like you have.  My software is$1465 per concurrent user.  This means a 5 Doctor practice can purchase it for under $50,000 and it has well over a million dollars of programming time in it.

R2T2Ellis's product also has a lot of time in it.

I am not saying that free is not good, I am saying it is one factor in the decision.  If anyone out there is in agreement let me know.

Descriptmed is a great product and the users should use it, especially if it is free.  With your Microsoft model in mind, Microsoft is one of the highest cost of ownership software ever sold, the requirement to purchase upgrades at near full price is a brilliant idea by my hero.  I wish I could give it away and then charge 80% of retail for the product.

We have had this argument before, Al, our positions are clear.  I want to make a small profit and give a great product that gets better over time.  You want to provide a low cost or free product that takes down the big guys and gets better overtime.

Fortunately, it is a big market.

1465 per user so that a 5 doctor practice cost is under 50k?

7,325 by my calculator

That is great!  Is that the number?

>>> I want to make a small profit and give a great product that gets better over time.  You want to provide a low cost or free product that takes down the big guys and gets better overtime.

Just take down CCHIT...

BTW, did you ever look at how your program came out looking in the lecture? I was able to somehow get 5 forms to show:

Hey, I enjoy sparring with you...

Cheers,

Al

I am moving this to a new thread, eMedRec and other software costs with benefits.  Anyone can post here, but I will start.

I don't want to pollute R2T2Ellis's thread, I really like what he is doing.

Regards,

Brendon