Digidoc,
I want to thank you for your post and clear up a few points. First, I have never hidden my background nor posted anonymously and I thank you for pointing out that I do have a connection to this situation that should be transparent to all. With that said, I stand behind EVERYTHING I post here, and will do so under oath if need be. Second, I completely agree that you should be made aware of significant events that occur with your vendors by your vendors, and not through a third party. Terminating all of your staff is not merely dirty laundry, as you assert. Third, if Acermed continues to characterize me as a disgruntled ex-employee, then I say this, and if they persist, I'll post the reasons why I'm saying this - had I accepted their offer to return after my resignation, I would have become an officer of that company. There is not a sane person in this country that would choose to be an officer of that company knowing the seriousness of the issues they are facing. You do not know the gravity of their issues nor is it my place to discuss it publicly.
I state again, the reason for my posts on this matter are very specific and for the well being of their clients - first their Medinformatix users they are still supporting, and second, their Aserum clients. Let's repeat the facts:
FACT: Acermed terminated ALL of their employees at a group meeting on the 17th. I was contacted by a number of them INDEPENDENTLY shortly after they left the premises. They had been told by the principals Acermed was closing it's doors. I didn't believe it until I received calls from 2 of their key employees. Most of their employees are no longer working for them, some are working for us now.
Are their employees, friends of mine who have never lied to me, lying to me. You decide.
FACT: The following morning my staff received a frantic phone call from an Acermed client that could not send claims because they were in mid-transition with clearinghouses, and could reach no one at Acermed. Because they are a Medinformatix user, we offered our assistance.
Acermed terminated their employees and left them hanging with nothing and I had no reason to believe they were not doing the same to their clients. Based upon those two events, I felt an obligation to let anyone else that may have been left in the same predicament know there was help if they needed it. What would any of you have done, based on the available information at that time? I hope you would have tried to help.
FACT: I've made no comment, public or otherwise, as to the payroll obligation of Acermed, other than to state for the first time here that their employees told me they were terminated without severance and without accrued vacation. These were loyal, hard working and capable employees, the only real asset Acermed had (in my opinion). No severance, no accrued time, no warning, no recruiter brought in to assist in placement (a courtesy my recruiter friends tell me they often do for free since it's easy business for them). Just goodbye.
FACT: I've made no comment, public or otherwise, as to the status of the Bina/Yonis relationship, other than to state for the first time here that a client contacted me days after the termination of employees and informed me that an email had been circulated to his fellow physicians stating Yonis was going forward with the software and Bina was supporting the Medinformatix clients.
Either my client is lying to me, or his long time friend and associate is lying to him, or it's the truth. Again, I'll let you decide. For me, if I need to get my lawyers to track down that email, I will.
FACT: A number of Acermed physicians contacted us regarding the post expressing concern for their situation. Since no response or action from Acermed had occurred, and because we were being told the phones were going unanswered (as evidenced by a number of posts), we posted a subsequent post regarding the succesfull migration of others from Acermed to let physicians know that in a worst case scenario all was not lost, in the event the facts as we knew them remained unchanged.
FACT: Acermed did in fact approach several of their employees the following days to offer to re-hire them (in at least one case for less money), under a different company.
Again, either their employees are lying to me, friends of mine that have never lied to me, or someone else is lying. You decide. For the record, there are attorneys across the country curious as to the legal status of Acermed. What is the legal status of Acermed, Inc. - is that a going concern or are they operating under a separate entity? Does anyone know? I do not.
Next, to clear up the air on the facts regarding their case with Medinformatix (not the only legal battle they have going on according to their D&B):
FACT: From the Arbitrator's Interim Award ruling in Medinformatx vs. Acermed - "...Respondent had access to Claimant's materials, including source code. It is not credible that Respondent had the source code on a disk but nobody knew it was there. The Arbitrator finds Respondent copied Claimant's copyrighted material." pg 4
FACT: From the Arbitrator's Interim Award ruling in Medinformatix vs. Acermed - "Award is made in favor of Claimant, Medinformatix, Inc." pg 1
I post these facts so that you and Mark Anderson can correct your previous posts.
Say anything you want to me privately, but if you are going to disparage me publicly, you better have your facts lined up because I will defend my reputation through all means necessary, and I can assure you I will do it with documentation and facts. I'm not here to pick fights, just to let you know there are options out there if anyone needs them. I would suggest the same to you.
Finally, I frankly don't care what anyone on this forum chooses to believe or do about these events. However, I would recommend, as a matter of prudent business, to recognize that your vendor has just drastically reduced their staff and if you are insistent on gaining more information to make the most informed decision possible, then pay your lawyers to do a public records search and follow up on whatever is discovered to learn what they know. In other words, don't take Acermed's word for it, or mine either, for that matter.
As for the profit motive, any vendor in this industry that has had to rescue others from a failed EMR attempt know that it is a labor of necessity, not profit. The typical scenario calls for drastically reduced pricing, a lot of hard work that has not been paid for, and a 12 month turn around on eventually seeing a positive return on your resource investment. The rescue business is not a smart business model.
As I've stated to others that have contacted me, if Acermed is responding to calls and helping their clients, then there is no fire burning and no urgency to do anything at all. But any reasonable person would agree it's better to be prepared than caught by surprise.