$44,000 For Using An EHR? REALLY?
-Am I eligible to get the stimulus money if I use Amazing Charts?
-Why doesn't Amazing Charts hype the stimulus money like other EHR vendors?

Pricing
-What's the total cost of Amazing Charts? Other vendors hide "extras" for ePrescribing, training, etc. Do you?
-Why's it so darn cheap? Is it a "lite" or "starter" EHR like other vendors say?
-I've heard from other vendors that Amazing Charts won't survive. Is that true?
-What are the hidden fees that will frustrate me later?
-I've tried it. I love it! How do I buy it?

How Does Amazing Charts Work (Am I ready for an EHR?)
-Will it work in my office?
-Is it easy to learn?
-Electronic Health Records seem like a big step. I'm scared.
-Will I have to re-enter all my patient information - and what if I decide to change to another program later?
-What other practices own Amazing Charts?

Demonstrations (Let me see it in action!)
-I want to watch a video tutorial.
-I want a live demonstration with a real person.
-I want to see Amazing Charts at a convention.
-I want to see how Amazing Charts works with voice recognition.

Hardware & Networking (What computers do I need?)
-What sort of computers do I need?
-How easy is this to network at my office?
-Can I get to my records from my house, a second office, or a nursing home?
-Do you have a Mac or Linux version?
-What about when we upload our databases for OffSite Backup. Is that safe?

Voice Recognition and Other Cool Features
-Does Amazing Charts have voice recognition?
-Can I save patient pictures?
-Can I generate a pediatric growth curve?

Billing
-Can Amazing Charts do billing?

Help!
-I need help now!
-What are the common issues other users are experiencing?

What are the latest features have been added and how do I get them?
-Information on our latest enhancements is here!
-I already use Amazing Charts? How do I upgrade?

Am I eligible to get the stimulus money if I use Amazing Charts? (Click here to return to the top.)
The short answer is yes. And better yet, since the money is not tied to what you pay for your EHR, you get to pocket what you get instead of giving it to your EHR vendor. Amazing Charts is as eligible for stimulus money as any other EHR.

Of course the devil is in the details, so here is a summary of how it currently stands. Remember, this money could get slashed from a future budget and the actual rules for applying and receiving the money are not finalized - for example there is no recognized certifying bodies as yet (that's right, CCHIT certified doesn't mean you are using a "certified" EHR as defined by the HITECH legislation). Even the folks from HHS's Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) who are tasked with designing and running this whole HITECH stimulus thing, had no clue as to the details when we spoke with them at the HIMSS 2010 conference. In fact, we spoke to five different representatives from ONC, and each gave us incorrect information (one of them said physicians get $44K no matter how much they collected from Medicare - which like essentially everything else they stated - was incorrect)!

So here is a summary of the legislation as we understand it (and we understand it clearly better than the government agencies and other EHR vendors pushing you to adopt an EHR).

1. Eligible providers can choose to get money based on their Medicare collections or their Medicaid patient volume, but not both.

2. For Medicare, if you meet the criteria and use a "certified" EHR in a "meaningful" way (again, neither of these official terms are finalized - so currently NO EHR IS TECHNICALLY ELIGIBLE) you can get 75% of your Medicare collections, or $44,000 - whichever is less. For example, if you collect $24,000/year (or more) in Medicare payments, then you are could receive:

$18,000 in 2011 (or 75% of your Medicare collections, whichever is less)
$12,000 in 2012 (or 75% of your Medicare collections, whichever is less)
$ 8,000 in 2013 (or 75% of your Medicare collections, whichever is less)
$ 4,000 in 2014 (or 75% of your Medicare collections, whichever is less)
$ 2,000 in 2015 (or 75% of your Medicare collections, whichever is less)
= $44,000 total from Medicare

$44,000 is the maximum you can get. Unfortunately, what many vendors fail to explain as they try to sell you their $44,000 EHR, is that if you collect less than $24,000/year from Medicare, as many of us do, you get less. For example, if you collect $10,000/year from Medicare, this is how the money would turn out:

$ 7,500 in 2011
$ 7,500 in 2012
$ 7,500 in 2013
$ 4,000 in 2014
$ 2,000 in 2015
= $28,500 total

Despite being significantly less, $28,500 is still nice. What is even nicer, is that since this money is not related to the price of software or hardware purchased, users of inexpensive EHRs like Amazing Charts will pocket the money instead of giving it to their EHR vendor.

3. For Medicaid, the rewards are potentially higher, but so are the requirements. Physicians deciding to go for Medicaid money can get up to $63,750 but are required to have a minimum of 30% Medicaid patients. There may be some lattitude, however. For example, pediatricians who do not meet this minimum but have at least 20% Medicaid patients can receive up to $42,500. Similarly, physicians who practice in federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) or rural health clinics (RHCs) may also be provided some leeway in that if at least 30% of their patients are "needy" - defined as patients who have Medicaid, receive uncompensated care, or for whom charges are adjusted on a sliding scale - they may also be eligible for the Medicaid money.

Our understanding is that if you go for the Medicaid option and meet the criteria of using a "certified" EHR in a "meaningful" way, and if 30% (or more) of your practice volume is Medicaid beneficiaries, then you are slated to receive:

$21,250 in year 1
$ 8,500 in year 2
$ 8,500 in year 3
$ 8,000 in year 4
$ 8,500 in year 5
$ 8,500 in year 6
= $63,750 total from Medicaid

4. Again, the details of the stimulus money are not clearly stated in a way that the average physician, EHR vendor, or government employee understands. For instance, nobody we've asked knows how this money will actually be paid out (e.g., in one lump sum payment each year), or how the government would validate physician claims that they meet the required criteria.

In our opinion purchasing an EHR today based on the expectation of receiving stimulus money is just plain stupid. That said, we recognize that this isn't chump change, and Amazing Charts is committed to ensure that our software can meet the government requirements in time for our users to get every penny of the stimulus money to which they are entitled.

Why doesn't Amazing Charts Hype the Stimulus Money Like Other Vendors? (Click here to return to the top.)
Nearly all EHR vendors are hyping the HITECH stimulus to convince you to purchase their products. Their web sites are plastered with white papers, worksheets, and other collateral, all designed to do one thing – make you feel panicked so you'll quickly buy a bloated, overly expensive solution that will neither make you more productive nor improve patient outcomes.

While Amazing Charts is as eligible for stimulus money as any other EHR out there, perhaps even more so since it is already CCHIT certified, we don't tout this money for two reasons.

First, we believe an EHR should be purchased only when you are ready – and not a day before. That's why we encourage you to use Amazing Charts free for 3 months – so you can be sure it will work for you and your office. Our solution costs just $995 plus $500/year, instead of the industry average of $40,000.  You don't need stimulus money to pay for Amazing Charts, and if you do collect the stimulus, more of the money will end up in your pocket.

Second, there are still too many unknowns about the ARRA HITECH Stimulus money. After nearly two years, terms like “meaningful use” and “certification” are still not finalized, and even Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT - the office charged with setting the final rules and coordinating the process - is still (as of HIMSS 2010) unable to answer the most basic question a physician needs to know: how much money, exactly, will I get? Even when this is finally understood by those running the show, the details of exactly how and when these payments will be made is unresolved and at risk of being cut. Faced with massive Federal budget deficits, who knows how Congress will “modify” these incentives in the future?

What's the total cost for Amazing Charts? Other vendors hide "extras" for ePrescribing, training, etc. Do you? (Click here to return to the top.)
Amazing Charts pricing is straightforward and fair. We charge $995 per provider for the initial license plus $500/year per provider for essentially* everything else. Our price includes all our upgrades and software maintenance, Guardian Angel Technical Support, ePrescribing with drug/drug, drug/allergy interactions, scheduling, intra-office messaging, user-friendly documentation, templates, advanced database search, reporting functionality, and CMS1500 superbill generation and nearly everything else you can think of. Any other optional "extra" charges you may encounter, such as for OffSite Backup, Interfaces to other programs, or the Amazing Charts Billing Service are clearly listed here, and are affordable and reasonable.

Again, don't believe what an EHR company claims. Instead, ask actual physician EHR users. 2,012 Family Physicians were asked if their EHR is worth the expense. Below is a summary of what they said as published by the AAFP.



From the AAFP's Family Practice Management Survey of 2,012 physicians. Click here for the full study.

What are the hidden fees that will frustrate me off later? (Click here to return to the top.)
There are no "hidden" fees to surprise you later. No "extra" module fee for ePrescribing, scheduling, or other features that are integral to your practice. That said, we do expect you'll pay for our annual maintenance service known as Guardian Angel Maintenance & Support. As are all things in Amazing Charts, our maintenance plan is affordable at $500 per provider per year.

Optional services that we do charge a fee for include OffSite Backup ($250/year per practice), which should be considered an insurance plan that can save you an episode of angina if a disaster occurs (e.g., office fire, theft, lightning strike, etc).

We also offer an integrated Amazing Charts Billing Service (just 5% of collections), which allows real-time practice billing analysis and reports, as well as doing all aspects of billing from insurance submissions, to dealing with any denials, to invoicing patients for balances due. We are also currently developing other services like first-call on call coverage and a cool patient portal.

Finally, we charge extra for interfaces to third-party programs, such as a practice management systems, ECG hardware, etc. These prices are all affordable, range in price from $1 to $500, and are clearly listed here.

Why's it so darn cheap? Is it lousy, or a "lite" EHR as other vendors have claimed? (Click here to return to the top.)
Amazing Charts has all the features and functionality you need to run your office. We are as much a "certified EHR" as any other system. In fact, CCHIT certification requires an EHR to have 100% of the functionality and security features required to be a fully-functional complete "certified EHR." And not only is Amazing Charts CCHIT Certified, but it is actually much easier to use (according to EHR users) than other certified (and non-certified) systems.

Despite being robust, powerful, and certified, Amazing Charts is priced significantly less than other EHRs for a number of reasons. Most importantly, it's because the founder and owner is a family physician who was so fed up of being taken advantage of by software companies (and insurers) that he decided to teach them a lesson. Most EHR companies are out to make a huge profit for their shareholders, and apparently believe that doctors can afford - and are stupid enough - to pay for some complicated patchwork of modules and options that actually slow down the documentation process. The mission of Amazing Charts is to provide a fair program at a fair price and through this strategy encourage other vendors to do the same.

Sure we want to make a profit too, but how much money does a company have to make to be successful? Year after year, Amazing Charts makes more than enough without having to gouge our clients or be beholden to shareholders. In fact, Amazing Charts has taken no angel investment money, no venture capital money, no bank loans, has no debt, is on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in the U.S., and is profitable year after year.

We think the real question is not why Amazing Charts is so cheap, but rather why are other programs so expensive? If Amazing Charts can provide a top rated EHR at a reasonable price, have plenty of money for development and enhancements, and still be quite profitable - why are other EHRs so costly? We believe the answer is simple: greed. And while we firmly believe in the concept of competition and a free market, the requirement of capitalism to work is that consumers are able to vote with their wallets. Companies that don't provide a good product or price their product at a reasonable rate should not be purchased. They will either adapt (i.e., make their product more usable and/or lower their price), or they will go out of business. We've already seen this happen to a number of EHR companies - and it is bound to continue as the hundreds of EHR vendors fight to grab a piece of the physician market. Amazing Charts is adding more than 60 new practices each month, a number far higher than any other EHR company we know of, and we already have a larger unique practice base than the "big boys."

The reason these overpriced and poorly rated systems have any users is that non-physician owned practices often have administrators and technology officers making the final decision, and these people don't understand how critical it is that a program be easy to learn and use for the doctor and their staff. They pick an EHR vendor based on marketing ploys, pricing "deals" (that are still thousands more than our price), and other factors unrelated to the usability for the physician and their staff. There is a reason most EHR salespeople make more than physicians: they are well-trained at cajoling folks to spend ridiculous sums of money on a promise of increased efficiency, reduced staff expenses, and other silly ROI arguments like the savings you enjoy not having to file charts. They use glossy sales brochures, zero-down monthly lease ploys, and other nonsense to confuse executives, administrators, and technologically-naive physicians into signing on a dotted line and making a contractual commitment that is all but impossible to get out of when it becomes apparent that their system is untenable. In other words, Amazing Charts is affordable because we don't waste money trying to get you to buy something you can't afford and won't be able to use. Since Amazing Charts is more usable and has more satisfied clients than any other EHR, all we do is point you to the studies proving our claims, provide the system at a fair price, and give you three months free to prove to yourself that our system is not only best choice, but the only logical choice.

Electronic Health Records seem like a big step. I'm scared. (Click here to return to the top.)
It's smart to have some trepidation. Too many docs have forked over thousands of dollars and spent endless hours learning software that actually hampers your ability to get things done. EHRs are a big step, especially if you have to pay up front, learn complicated data entry, use limited "demo" programs, or waste time dealing with sleazy sales reps.

A good EHR produced by an honest company (we're talking about Amazing Charts) will make documenting easier - not harder - and in a short period of time you'll wonder how you ever worked without it. In fact, one of the reasons Amazing Charts exists is to allow you to try a good EHR without fear of wasting any money or screwing up the way you do things already. Let's face it, what you do now with paper, pencil, or a dictaphone probably works just fine, albeit with room for improvement. The truth is, if you're going to try an EHR, Amazing Charts is perfect to see if it will work for your unique situation. If it does, terrific. If it doesn't, you really didn't waste any money or much time (and you won't get a sales rep pestering you every week to see if you've tried the program or if you've decided to purchase extra modules). But don't take it from us, see what our users are saying.

Will it work in my office? (Click here to return to the top.)
Amazing Charts works on individual computers as well as computer networks.

Single Computer Setup: It will work for any provider when running on his or her own computer. And though it will work great to generate notes and track patient data, running it on a single computer prevents you from benefiting from intra-office messaging and scheduling. (You could use the scheduling on your solo computer, but somebody, will have to enter the appointments and patient demographics, and that somebody shouldn't be the doctor, whose time is too valuable to be spent entering this data.)

Network Computer Setup: For solo or small groups of docs with a networked systems (e.g., 2 or more computers connected through a router or hub) this program is absolutely perfect. The front desk person can enter demographics and schedule appointments, the nurse can enter vital signs and subjective data and forward the chart to the physician, the physician then enters the remainder of the note, either at the bedside if computers are in the examining rooms, or at a computer outside the exam room. Fast. Efficient. Easy.

Amazing Charts was specifically designed for solo and small groups of providers (<5 or so providers and all their support staff). There are better, albeit much more expensive, software options for larger groups. Yet since the full-featured Amazing Charts program can be tried and experimented with for three months, it certainly is worth checking out to see if it enhances your documenting process and overall office efficiency, no matter what your group size.

Is Amazing Charts easy to learn? (Click here to return to the top.)
Amazing Charts is built to be easy and intuitive to use. Progress notes are entered as physicians were trained in medical school and residency, and doesn't require you to learn to enter encounter information the way a software engineer or somebody who takes inventory at Wal-Mart might. For example, to record that a patient had a flu shot in most EHRs requires a dozen or more mouse clicks! Amazing Charts takes just a few. Intra-office messaging and scheduling are also intuitive and allows users to simply drag and drop a patient onto the desired slot.

But don't believe what an EHR vendor tells you, check with actual physician users. 2,012 Family Physicians were asked if their EHR is easy and intuitive to use. Below is a summary of what they said as published by the AAFP.

From the AAFP's Family Practice Management Survey of 2,012 physicians. Click here for the full study.