Allscripts Software

Terrible software, terrible company and trapped due to 7 year contract!!

None....only a practice in debt......................................................................................................................

Pros

You can take breaks between patients while the EMR goes down quite frequently. The patients don't like it though when they start a riot in your waiting room. Because the software and cloud are terribly made and break down a lot you do get to talk to the folks in India a lot...that's where the IT is based from. Since they aren't able to help you and just say things like "this is a global problem we are aware. " That's really nifty but I have 15 patients waiting for me. This hasn't really turned out to be a PRO.... to be honest there really are no PROs.

Cons

high price to get out of contract. Shady company with a very bad product. This will be the worst business decision you ever make. You simply cannot get out of contract. In my opinion would never ever do business with this company.

Expensive and not flexible

Pros

Easy lay out and easy to use. it has all the aspects of EHR like eRx, faxing, internal communications.

Cons

If you want support for your equipment, you have to purchase all hardware and software through them at 3 times the cost. We were trying to upgrade and their estimate included "education and training" for 3 years. When I asked to have it either removed or brought down to 1 year since we won't need it, they refused because it's what they think is best for us. Their monthly maintenance fees are very high and any updates I can't do myself, I have to pay extra to them. We were looking to switch to cloud based version but their fee is so high which didn't work for us either. In other words, once they got you and you are stuck with them, anything you want to do will cost you a fortune.

Allscripts Review

Charting consistently on the system over years allows for continuity of care in our office. Overall the system is efficient and allows me to meet my objectives of charting on my patients.

Pros

It is helpful to make specific templates for each problem. This saves a lot of time which is helpful when you have a busy day of patients. Clicking on pertinent positives and negatives with the ability to add comments all build the note together nicely.

Cons

Usually the only issues we have with Allscripts is that it tends to freeze. Then we get kicked out of the system which is frustrating since it wastes a lot of time. It is not always clear if this problem comes from Allscripts itself or is in part due to our internet connection.

I am a user of this software and it is easy to use once you are aware where things are located.

I was able to get referrals and orders sent to other facilities a lot quicker and easier.

Pros

The internal fax that was included in the software. It made it very easy and accessible to fax documents and records in Allscripts EHR. It wasted less paper by allowing us to fax things (ie; lab orders, diagnostic test orders, referrals) to other facilities rather than print it out and manually fax it from a fax/copy machine.

Cons

There was no shortcut to find documentation. I would have to search through documents by dates to find different messages or things that were scanned in. Once I was able to find what I was searching for then it was easy to locate the document again.

WORST.EHR/EMR.EVER!!!!

It is so ancient. Not sure how they can say they are one of the best or leading in EHR?? Complete lie! Has any of the faculty or developers of this company ever seen any other EHR?? I'm guessing not. Maybe they should see some other EHRs or have experienced providers help them! You also get nickel and dimed on everything even when you pay majors dollars to have the program and have to continue to pay for services, monthly fees, and for every upgrade and added the feature. Their customer support is horrible because half the people don't know what they are doing.

Pros

Nothing. Well I guess I'm supposed to pretend that I like something to move forward, but I honestly cannot!

Cons

Everything from the layout, templates, workflow, e-scribing, how only one person can be in the note and you have to steal it or take it over in order to do your part. I can't even create a note on someone I saw last week because another provider had two charts open on this patient that needed to be finished. AND...I can't even view any of these open notes either even when I am following up on this patient and need to see some things. You have to enter each prescription and send separately. The search buttons for diagnosis, procedures, test, education is horrible. You need to be able to find one thing with multiple names medical and layman, most commonly used. The nurses should be able to put in their vitals and go into medication, history, social, family, etc.....at the same time I getting into the HPI, exam, diagnoses and plan. I should be able to see the entire note, every section, on one page so I don't have to do a tone of clicking to try and see everything. I want to see the entire note. I should also be able to see problem list, medications, and other things off to one side. If someone is trying to open a section I am in it just needs to let them know by saying "so and so is in this section right now do you really need to take it over as it wouldn't save anything." This was helpful with the last EMR I had at my last job as I could even ask the person it said was on if they could get out of the section if I needed them too. When you have a template, you should be able to select something, but still alter it. For eg. if you choose one of the already made master list options you can't even put anything before or after or in between the sentence. Even when entering days or weeks to some of these sections you should be able to free text and even put 2-3 weeks or whatever you need to put in there. It should be very easy to make templates and edit things. Have any of these developers ever went into a medical office to even see how busy and complicated it is. It needs so much work. It is SOO old school!! I seriously am so frustrated, I can't even understand how this business is still successful?? I'm honestly going to spread the word on this program as it is the worst investment ever. Also when running reports it doesn't capture everything. Also isn't very helpful for meaningful use.

Very versatile product that is very difficult and expensive to configure.

Product generally works pretty well, but basic not critical bugs are rarely if ever corrected (even crossing major versions). Despite expensive maintenance contracts. I have been told that despite calling their period in version updates as "Cumulative Updates", they do not recommend applying these unless you have specific issues addressed. This would make them a hotfix rather than a cumulative update.

Pros

Extremely versatile and customizable product.
User interface is fairly clean and easy to use.
Vast number of features and options specific to your practice.

Cons

Company is slow to correct usability and bug issues.
Support is slow and often does not seem very skilled.
Extremely expensive to implement, upgrade and patch.

Word processor, with mandatory functions cobbled together and poorly searchable

Pros

Prescriptions easy to renew, though poor graphic layout makes it difficult to identify meds on list.
Immunization chart can show column of last dose given

Cons

1. Not intuitive at all, needs 12 clicks to do pretty much anything.
2. Progress notes are not searchable for data(no snomed assignment of findings) very little is, so documenting quality parameters (e.g. diabetic foot exam or depression screening) means going outside of the progress note (12 clicks) and separately entering an order to do the exam then satisfy the order with a result. They kind of cobbled their data processor to a word processor.
3. The front office scheduling and billing module is often down, and Allscripts is very slow to respond and not proactive, only slowly reactive to problems.
4. Updates to the EHR tend to screw things up (like deleting favorites lists) and because of their slow responses, it takes 3-4 weeks to regain/repair that lost functionality. Our previous EHR would do beta testing on updates first which would identify glitches so they could be repaired before full rollout and we would be given the option of being a beta test site or not.
5. Templates for progress notes are primitive and not interconnected. For example, a diabetic visit and patient has sinusitis too. Clicking finding on one form doesn’t show same item already clicked when using any other form. And the History forms are not linked to PE forms, etc, so if you have a Lyme patient you can search for a Lyme history form (12 clicks) but you would separately have to search for a Lyme PE form (12 clicks) or just give up and free text hx and PE findings (thus functioning more often as a glorified word processor).

Not up with the current times

We have been unhappy, but our Liason Sally Borel came to the rescue and set up meetings to answer our concerns and has kept in close contact with me. She is a big, big improvement over the Allscript liaison that we had before, Maureen. she never returned any phone calls or emails.

Pros

Careplan charting
Support Team
Sally Borel our Liason
Fact that a clinician does not need to be hooked to WiFi to use
Med profile more user friendly, still needs tweaking to be able to give to a patient

Cons

Not cloud based
Need to sync in order to see documentation
Need a server
You charge by the license and not by the census
Can not use the software on any device
HHA care plan not user friendly

Home Health Review

Pros

Quick response time for IT help. The IT staff are very friendly, just difficult to understand sometimes. I like how the EMR looks when it is printed out.

Cons

It is difficult to understand the language or accent of some of the IT help. Also my staff can not sych from home sometimes and we have been told recently that Allscripts does not work with VPN or remote access. This is and important feature that is needed for a home health company. I also wish that entering medications and ending them were easier. If we have a patient that gets admitted to the hospital for a few days, we have to end each med and then add them back in when they come back home. The way Allscripts medication feature is set up is not worker friendly. Nurses would love to give you input on how to make this feature much easier.

Lack of customer service and a multitude of issues including connectivity and third party vendors make this very difficult to recommend

The turnover within the company makes it difficult to establish a relationship with anyone if there is an issue. Routine failures in connectivity and lack of timely support create severe difficulty with work flow and patient care.

Pros

I have been using it for 7 years so familiarity is about the only saving grace at this point. It is a certified ehr vendor.

Cons

see review title. Follow My health portal was unusable. Third party vendors for additional add ons available for additional fees. I have been told that I will need to pay them for access to my patient records should I desire to switch to another vendor or retire.

Many Clicks Yield Low Results

Pros

This software makes inter-provider communication easy. The custom order feature provides increased efficiency. Pharmacy renewal requests are seamless.

Cons

Unfortunately, this software makes it difficult to track laboratory results across time which is less than optimal in the medical profession. Take notes is far from simple as the program requires multiple clicks in and out of text boxes to create notes. Finally, the custom patient and provider lists are cumbersome to create and manage.

Easy To Use, Slow, Bad Design

Look elsewhere, there are open source options I would choose before this.

Pros

It was easy to use and to find what you needed, it is a fairly simple software. The ability to send electronic prescriptions is also a plus.

Cons

Very slow and takes forever to load! Integrations with other systems is also nearly impossible. The software UI is very poorly designed and the coding is obviously messy. Downtime seemed to be a given each week as the system would go down randomly and seemingly every week.

Review of Allscripts EMR

Pros

Like the fact that it auto generates orders, requires a complete chart before it can be submitted. Like that I can see patients from all offices.

Cons

Cannot flip around in the chart (assessments to care plan) without completing the previous section. Do not like that it does not calculate travel time correctly.
Do not like that fact that the branch cannot be selected on the visit. Do not like the fact that some of the sections contain assessments that are not specific to hospice.

We use the Enterprise version (11.) in a large multispecilty practice. We used paper charts before this. This EHR is a Jack of all trades, but master of none.The user interface is antiquainted (the Pro version appears more develped in this regard) and oftentimes requires multiple clicks to get to basic information. It is hardly intuitive to someone like me who is very computer literate. The med list is hard to read and contains way too many details on the summary page. The note tools accept all forms of input, which is a postive, but the editing tools particularly for structured notes is absimal because of many bugs. Editing becomes a real chore and source of dissatisfaction. Input of laboratory data is not flexible in the sense that one cannot make manual entries or make custom feilds without significant tech support, which is lacking. Some of the order entry tools do not work correctly (standing orders to be specific), a known bug for a long time, but still no resolution. Problem oriented documentation is incomplete as there is poor connectivity between problem lists and an assessment of it (although, it does connect the dots for coding and for linking meds and labs to problems, just not easy to get too). Our in-house support staff are experiencing significant lags in updates and fixs for this product. To the extent that we can send scripts electronically and document changes in medication dosing, that part works well and should since that is where Allscripts excels. Its too bad that the rest of the product is so buggy and neglected. In short, I would not recommend the Enterprise version of this product. The ratings page for this site should probabaly make a distinction between the 3 products offered by Allscripts since they are not all the same.

We have had Allscripts since October 2010; our practice has 3 physicians, one of them practices Nephrology and the other Endocrinology in addition to Internal Medicine. Our experience with Allscripts has been really terrible, from implementation to maintenance. The software is appealing, but not customized despite all claims. Then when you customize some of its components like the reason for visit, you lose all templates after the first system upgrade. What’s worse is that many duplicate "reason for visit elements" do not work; meaning you click but no words appear. The shortlists of the A&P remain however. Customer support needs work although promised to be 24/7 by the salesman; they cannot fix any problem, they keep asking for more money because fixing some elements of their program apparently are not covered in the contract. I warn everybody to read the contract very carefully and see the actual customized templates before committing; do not take the word "we can do this and that" for granted. Unfortunately we are stuck with this system for now and have learned to type... and we did not opt for anything cheap; we paid at least $75,000 by now, and we keep getting bills outside the regular maintenance. I have to say that Allscripts ePrescribing is fairly well set, but the connectivity with the laboratory and with our previous practice management system is still not working right. We got the incentive for the first year of use, but we probably wont for the next years because the reports run by the system are incomplete, like showing that a BP or HbA1C check are overdue, when they were actually done within the past week! Also, the screen view does not print accurately, like the pulse oximeter readings are not captured in the print version of a note.

Please use another product

The support I have received on technical issues is by far the worst I have ever experienced. Our issues are possibly stretched out over days to weeks. I submit our cases for support and most of the time I do not hear anything back that someone is looking at our case for days - sometimes I hear back the next day. We ask for guidance on server refreshes and they send us an out of date manual if we hear back. I have expressed our deep concerns when we experience down times due to lack of direction from the vendor. We had a down test environment for over 4 weeks and we had to reach out to another contact to get the issues resolved. I begged for documentation on what the fix was, and I have never heard back. We need to perform another refresh and are guaranteed to run into the same issues again. This is unacceptable as a company to offer this level of support to a paying customer. The company also only connects to your environment through SecureLink, a gateway that is usually non conforming to any sized organization's IT Security policies and preferences. They will not work with you on this issue either. I have not had a good experience with this company at the last 2 organizations I have worked that used Allscripts. This is my single point of contention in my job duties.

Pros

The product offers an ease of use for our end users.

Cons

Everything.
The customer support is horrendous.
The company's connectivity.

Nurse at mid-sized hospital using EHR

Pros

I can't think of a single thing I like "best" about this EHR.

Cons

The AllScripts EHR we are using is terrible to say the least. Nothing populates to anything else in a meaningful way. If I give insulin, it should populate to the diabetic flowsheet. But I have to double chart everything. It isn't capable of connecting to our telemetry, so again, another entry. The physical assessment is ridiculously laborious to chart. It takes nearly 20-30 minutes just to open my patients chart. As I move from room to room to chart at the bedside (per directive), the log in and out time is very long. Once charting, there are far too many descriptors that mean nearly the same thing. The list of possible findings is so long that it takes forever to look through and it's not in any particular order that I can see (such as alphabetical descriptors so it's easier to find what I'm looking for). It forces you through some things line by line, while completely skipping others so I have to manually go back. For example - on the skin assessment, I am line by line forced through everything each time. But on the cardiac section, it skips right over the telemetry parameter if the patient's assessment was WDL. If I've added a tele parameter I probably want to use it. There are so many columns across the page it's mind numbing to look at and often leads to people inserting data in the wrong column. If a parameter is accidentally clicked but is quickly realized not to be the one I meant to click, there is no way to delete it, this leading to yet another grayed out but space taking place. If there has been no data entered in a parameter, we should be able to delete or have an undo action option. In short, we are health care providers, not IT professionals. I should never be spending more time charting about the care I am providing than actually providing care. And the worst part is that with all the endless clicking of boxes, I chart less meaningful things than I did paper charting! I have yet to find one person who likes our system.

Decent EMR if you set it up correctly

Pros

If you spend weeks/months setting this up correctly before use, it is a decent EMR for primary care and some specialties.

Cons

Requires administrator AND PHYSICIANS to spend days/weeks if not months setting up system tables, protocols, and templates before system can be used appropriately. Limited usability with poor workflows for certain specialties that rely on body-site specific coding in ICD-10.

Unable to Fix Problems in a timely manner.

Not happy with the Allscripts System. Have been with company 16 years, started with Tiger then Allscripts Myway, now Allscripts Pro. Unable to get problems resolved in a timely manner. Problems understanding the customer service, overall language barrow. Ask when to call in (Have you check the Allscripts Port for the answer first before call customer service) We are a busy 4 physicians office and don't have time to search for the answer to our problems) We need an answer so we can continue on with our daily duties.

Pros

Displays nicely, user friendly for the most part, easy to navigate, Doctors like having the dragon.

Cons

Problems with e-Prescribe, allowing the physician to free text diagnosis, doesn't show social security numbers (which would be very helpful for the referral clerks), If correction needs to be made in PM the corrections do not cross over to EHR, so you have to go in and do an addendum

Allscripts has been a great EHR for our practice. It is very easy to use and easy to understand.

Pros

Allscript is easy to customize for each person. It is easy to use and easy to understand. Most things are very self explanatory. Overall the system is good.

Cons

The support sometimes takes a long time to respond to requests. Also when they respond to requests or open tickets sometimes it takes months to get thing actually completed. It seems that some people are quicker than other.