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Just to clarify another lie going around, we never had Acermed rated number 1. Also functionality rating is different from Company viability.
Mark R. Anderson, CEO AC Group, Inc. 118 Lyndsey Drive Montgomery, TX 77316 (c) 281-413-5572 (f) 832-550-2338
I understand that Acermed won the law suit with MedInformatics, showing that they did not copy the source code.
Also, why would a consultant offer my cleints a credit when my clients are happy with our services?
I do agree with you that some clients are unhappy with their selected vendor's ability to train effectively after purchase. We have warned our cleints about numerous trainning and installation issues that we have heard about after signing the contract. Sinc we are not involved in training, we survey our clients 30 and 90 days after they sign with an EHR vendor.
As a note, we have only heard positive comments from our clients that selected eMDs as their vendor of choice. I just wish the other vendors would preform as well as eMDs.
markanderson: I understand that Acermed won the law suit with MedInformatics, showing that they did not copy the source code.
Better check your facts on that. By the way, it's spelled Medinformatix.
markanderson: Just to clarify another lie going around, we never had Acermed rated number 1. Also functionality rating is different from Company viability.
You gotta love this guy...
AcerMed software ranked #1 in Electronic Charting by AC Group, Inc.
Check out page 14 on the following:
Extensive Evaluation Ranks Top Practice Management, Document Imaging and Electronic Medical/Health Record ApplicationsMark R. Anderson ->->-> Healthcare IT Futurist <-<-<-
What lies, specifically, are you referring to?
Can you give us the raw data for Company Viability in 2006 ? AcerMed vs. the others ?
I'd like to see how you did.
email:
Mark, I'm confused. According to page 14 of your White Paper, they have the highest ranking percentage.
Extensive Evaluation Ranks Top EHR and EMR Applications"
Chris Wilkerson, D.C. Carson Doctors Group TabletPCs in Medicine Editor-in-Chief www.MedicalTabletPC.com Home: www.Digital-Doc.com
To add balance to the discussion regarding AcerMed and its future, I just wish to say that our company was and remains confident in the capabilities of AcerMeds EMR. We did our due diligence and over the last 8 months have had our calls answered and handled appropriately. Even today 2 of our 3 calls were picked up by an employee.
So I wouldn't be so quick to rush to judgement and hope that AcerMed addresses its internal affairs so that it can get back the customer service that originally attracted us to commiting to their product.
Many of AcerMeds clients represent small practices and placed a relatively substantial financial investment in its product and so its in their interest to see that the company remains viable rather than gleefully circling around a perceived grave.
We wish the remaining AcerMed staff the best in their restructuring and the persistence to weather this storm.
SW
Hello again-
I had previously posted last week with information we had been told just after we found out that AcerMed has closed its doors. I wanted to give an update as we have been in close contact with AcerMed and its employees since Monday and our customer service issues have been addressed and things seem to be running smoothly.
Something I do want to make clear is that in my previous posting I was simply relaying things that I had heard through the grapevine so to speak, which is why I used the term "allegedly". It is now my understanding from actual current employees of the company that they are being paid appropriately and forsee things continuing on indefinately. We at this office are very glad to hear this, because as I said, we do like the software and think that it is one of the best products out there for our needs. I admit that my previous posting may have been written in panic and the tone was harsher than I think was necessary.
There are a number of employees at Acermed who have been extremely helpful to us over the last year and I apologize if my posting caused any distress or hurt feelings. We wish the best Acermed and its employees.
I disagree with the panic statement. Its a health record and when a program holds the data hostage you're only left with panic until someone resolves the issue at hand.
It is unclear to me what infrastructure is in place at Acermed and I feel it only fair to its customers that a formal announcement should be forthecoming. This would at least allow its customers to preserve the medical record.
In the course of my own due diligence, I find out that the poster who gave my friend the call turns out to be a prior disgruntled Acermed salesman/employee that is now reselling Medinformatix. Now, THAT was interesting information. And like most rumors passed along by individuals with their own financial interests, most of these rumors were big exaggerations, partial truths, or outright untrue.
I also find out that Richard and Mike are both at the Acermed corporate offices working together to solidify Acermeds position in the marketplace. In fact, I was on a call with both of them present in the same room. If that is a divorce, then it’s quite a friendly one.
Am I concerned? Certainly. But I still have confidence in the staff at Acermed. I will wait on them to give me the truth before I pass any judgements.
As it turns out, the colleague that called me also told me to go to emrupdate.com to find out all the details. So I did. I started reading all kinds of interviews and posts that seemed to be genuine accounts of EMR experiences. So I continue reading and start finding a very large number of posts coming from a few individuals. Almost all of the criticisms of other EMRs seem to be coming from a small number of individuals. Then I find out that these individuals are all major players in their OWN EMRs. Now I know that this is generalizing, and I also found posts by “Brendon”, who is very supportive of other EMRs. But the truth is that this forum is comprised mostly of posts by owners and supports of individual EMRs. It seems rare to find a post by a physician that is genuinely helping other physicians find an EMR that suits a specific practice. Again, I am generalizing and stereotyping, but please look for yourself and count the posts for yourself.
The other thing I find is that the BIGGEST criticism here is of AC Group, and Mark Anderson, who doesn’t even own an EMR, who doesn’t have a specific financial interest in any of the EMRs that he recommends (although there seems to be a great many “accusations” without proof by those in this forum).
When my group looked at EMRs, we didn’t seek out AC Group because we didn’t know about it. Had I known, I believe we would have sought their services. There is no better repository of data on the large numbers of EMRs out there. There are lists upon lists, but that doesn’t help a practice find the EMR that meets the specific needs of the practice. And those on this forum will assert that this forum is the best place to find the truth. Yeah right. I read through a large number of posts here and have found valuable information to sort through. I have also found a lot of accusations that I have to sort out. In the end, there is a lot of negative and very little hard evidence. If my group started research on this forum, it would have found more information to confuse them and found more things to research, and never would have looked at the EMRs that actually fit our practice the best. I did find plenty of ads on the site.
That’s not to say that this forum is not important. This forums brings up a lot of genuine concerns and genuine issues that should be addressed as part of the large EMR community. But I urge you all to refrain from accusations. Accusations only serve to discredit your own cause.
The other wonderful thing is the interviews. They are a wonderful look at the people behind the EMR world. It makes things a lot more personal. Thank you for this.
Best regards,
Digidoc
Digidoc,
Your post is a fair one, and worthy of pause. Thank you. Seasoned members know that with respect to what you read, one must take the chaff and grain together, keep what is worth keeping and blow the rest away. Actually, you can give the granules to Dr. Chase, at www.Medtuity.com, he collects them.
digidoc: The other wonderful thing is the interviews. They are a wonderful look at the people behind the EMR world. It makes things a lot more personal. Thank you for this.
Obviously, a person with good taste! I take that as a personal compliment. Thank you!
Robert Gleeman, Medical Journalist for EMR Update.com Email: robert@emrupdate.com Tel: 1-650-968-6359 Skype and ooVoo user name: robertgleeman EMR progress is a matter of fact. EMR Update supports your right to know.
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.
Thanks for your informative post Jeff.