Acermed closed their doors

Not only are we getting paid, but we received our July 15th paychecks.  It looks like people are being misinformed out there.  Call in if you have questions.

I visited their office when I was first looking for an EMR. They are located not far from me, in Irvine.

My question is: What happens to the people who currently own a license of the program? Since the company closes their doors, unless they sell their assets to someone else, do the offices get a "no renew version" of the software? Since there is no longer any support, do they refund the people their balance? Does any current Licensee of Acermed know if they have a right to the code? "Source code placed in escrow" in case the business closes like Acermed just did.

I'm sure that if you have access to the database schema then you could port it... better would be if you had access to the source code.

Steve

I should expect they have a few questions:

1. Which existing (established) EMR vendors could offer the port of data from Acermed to their own EMR solution?
2. Assuming a number of Acermed customers are in the same "unsupported" position, are there any EMR vendors likely to offer unpublished but large discounts to help these customers migrate. Seriously EMR Vendors -- this is a low-sales effort -- potentially for a number of Doctors who need a new system sometime in the next 12-months.
3. Are there any Acermed customers happy (under agreement) to discuss their database format and how this data could be extracted.
4. Again. Another reason for the portablility of data between different EMRs. Another EMR vendor will close shop in 6-months, 12-months, the future.

and I didn't even mention the winner at Carnoustie.

Nick (am I distantly related to Padraig Harrington?)

Before their site disappears: 

AcerMed, Inc.
135 Technology Drive, Suite #200
Irvine, CA 92618
(800) 841-0008
(949) 250-4410
(949) 231-5436 Fax
 

 

dcooper,

Would you please inform the people by answering the following questions. What is the current status of Acermed as a business? What can current customers expect in terms of support and updates? Is Acermed continuing to sell the EMR/PMS product?

Thanks,

Dan 

Rumor has it that a divorce is taking place between the principals and like all divorces nowadays it gets messy.

I guess we'll find out how Acermed is to support its existing client base and hopefully keep its doors open.  It is never a good thing to see a company go and this is definitely a blow to the paperless movement as a whole.  I think CCHIT should be held accountable in some way and perhaps shell out some coin to those acermed users that (God forbid) will be left out in the cold.  What purpose is it to be recognized and certified by CCHIT?    If CCHIT doesn't step up to the plate, then it is obviously useless.  Isn't this is why it was formed?   ...To weed out the bad companies?

I've been calling Acermed since Thursday of last week with no response, however I have received  a couple of emails and a couple of my clients say the've received the same.

Although it sounds easy, migrating an emr is not necessarily possible even if you have the schema.  Hence the reason why emr vendors focus on flat files such as demographics.  Too much to figure out!

I don't think its fair to expect CCHIT to "weed out the bad companies".  Their sole purpose is to determine if a product performs to a measurable set of functionality, interoperability and security specs.  The cost of being and staying CCHIT compliant is a significant expense, but that wouldn't necessarily weed out the bad companies - really just the under capitalized companies.  I think everyone relies on the expertise of consultants like 'futurist' Mark Anderson to weed out the bad companies and tell us what to buy.

I would hope that CCHIT addresses CCR and HL7 for operability and/or perhaps interoperability as these seem to be very grey areas.

Consultants are good and do just that Consult.  I only recommend based upon what has been presented or my personal experience with the software.  It appears from this thread and perhaps this forum that Mr. Anderson is not liked but is it really his fault?  Did the top ranking of Acermed affect vendors so much that you now have to slap him in the face with the Acermed scandal?  I'm not defending the guy I just don't see the humor.

It should be noted that no one from Acermed has addressed the issue of closure but rather that they are running on a skeletal support team.

I would hope a formal announcement is forthcoming as it is very unclear of their intentions.  Even if the software were running there is still the issue of a license key that I believe the developers would generate.  Then of course our beloved government that likes to change things just because....

rgvemrit:

What purpose is it to be recognized and certified by CCHIT?    If CCHIT doesn't step up to the plate, then it is obviously useless.  Isn't this is why it was formed?   ...To weed out the bad companies?

CCHIT is a EMR vendor driven organization who serves the interests of it's members, not doctors.  CCHIT is an advertising vehicle for vendors, nothing else.

They should put a disclaimer on their advertising the way they do on cigarettes!

First and foremost:

I would like to give my sincere thoughts and hope for the good people at Acermed, who tried to make the difficult transition from Sofware VAR to Software Manufacture.  I had the pleasure of meeting them on the MRI EMR Road Shows and have to believe that deep in the heart of heart they wish to do what is best for the employees, customers, vendors and of course the business itself.

Second:

Unfortunately, this comes with as Dr. Winn has made clear the need for capital to run a very expensive on going business venture in a very competitive market. It is my strong belief that as I have pointed out many times on this forum that many physicians, software companies, and others are unclear as to the real investment short and long term it takes to make this all work.

I made a comment earlier about how Dr. Winn could have easily failed in the earlier years when his original investment ran out by throwing in the towel.  In the end every business distinguishes itself by not throwing in the towel because they believe with a passion in the business model and the goods or services they are providing, to the point of total and insane commitment to make belief become reality.  (Ref.  Bill Gates with Windows 286, Ted Turner with a 24 hour news service who would have figured).

It is easier for a business to fail then succeed.  Especially in software where the support and ongoing development gets more complicated over time.

Third:

I hope for all the customers end up with a satisfactory end to this yet another major issue in the EMR industry. 

My thoughts, hope all is well with my friends in Cali,

Brendon 

DrMurdoch:

CCHIT is a EMR vendor driven organization who serves the interests of it's members, not doctors.  CCHIT is an advertising vehicle for vendors, nothing else.

Since we previously surmised that the purpose of CCHIT was to eliminate the competition, it does look like it has had it's first public success.  One can presume that the cost of achieving CCHIT compliance was not insignificant and a contribution to AcerMed's closure. 

For those that are concerned, there is an established migration path from Acermed to Medinformatix software. Over the past several months there have been numerous deinstalls of Acermed's software with migrations to Medinformatix. It's a fairly seamless process. Dr. Winn has eluded to reasons for this previously in this thread. Also, anyone that likes what they saw in Acermed's software that seeks a change should take a hard look at Medinformatix. We can offer the path of least resistance both economically and technically. Call if you have questions or would like to speak with other physicians that have faced the same decision.

Jeff Mongelli:

Over the past several months there have been numerous deinstalls of Acermed's software with migrations to Medinformatix

Well that has probably not helped their cash flow.

Are you able to quantify these figures more ? 1-10, 11 - 20, 21 + 

You're assuming people were given their money back. Perhaps they can comment on that. As for the exact number, I cannot say for certain, but I personally know of several.

AcerMed is about 45 minutes from me. I just got off the phone this morning with AcerMed after pressing the sales button key. They have "Scaled Down," according to the gal I spoke with.  She became a little defense, and justifiably, when I told her about doctors discussing/wondering about the AcerMed demise on www.emrupdate.com. For what it is worth, she reiterated they are NOT going out of business.