| 1. |
System Requirements? |
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Using the PracticeSuite system is easy, because all it requires is a computer connected to Internet. We recommend following technical configuration. PracticeSuite applications currently support computers running Microsoft Windows only.
System Requirements
- . Desktop or Laptop Computer
. Pentium IV
. 256 MB or high computer memory
. Screen Resolution: Ideally 1024 x 768 resolutions. It can also work on 800 x 600 resolution but would involve scroll on the screen
. Windows Operating System
. Windows XP Tablet Edition only (Service Pack 2)
. 512 MB RAM recommended
. Internet Explorer version 6.0 or higher
. High Speed Internet connection. Please click here for detailed specification
. 128-bit encryption enabled
. Additional Software
. Adobe Acrobat Reader for workstations printing reports
Internet Speed Requirement:
Number of users accessing the system from one location |
Actual Internet Connection Speed |
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Download |
Upload |
1-6 concurrent users |
512 Kb/s |
128 Kb/s |
7-10 concurrent users |
768 Kb/s |
256 Kb/s |
11-20 concurrent users |
1024 Kb/s |
384 Kb/s |
More than 21-concurrent users |
T1 or higher |
More than 30 concurrent users |
T1 or higher |
Additional consideration:
To ensure system availability if there is an internet connection issue, we recommend you install a router that can handle two incoming internet connection and obtain internet connection from two different service providers coming from two different phone lines. |
| 2. |
ASP v/s On Demand /Software As a Service? |
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An ASP is a hosted service where you host your application on behalf of you. It still require you to buy license, annual maintenance contract and pay for updates.
PracticeSuite.com is provided as an on-demand solution (Software as a Service). It doesn't require any server or any other additional hardware. The system is accessed similar to any other website. The website is HIPAA Compliant and is secured with 128 bit encryption with a username, password and account number.
A monthly subscription fee is paid for the actual usage of the application. |
| 3. |
Internet Connection Speed? |
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PracticeSuite.com would ideally require a high speed internet connection such as DSL, Cable modem etc. However, it can also work on a dial-up network but you will experience minor wait time as dial up speeds are generally limited to 56KBPS. For specific details on the internet connection, please click here |
| 4. |
Do you convert data from the existing system to your system? |
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Yes, we would be glad to convert customer data from the existing system to our system. We charge a nominal fee. Conversion is limited to patient demographics. Additional information is required for other conversion. Certain restrictions apply.
Our goal is to keep the transition to our system very smooth and less evasive & taxing. |
| 5. |
Do you have bridges to other software? |
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Yes. Our software is designed with open interface architecture, which allows us to exchange data with many third party applications. This enables us to have two way communication bridges with many systems.
The need for bridge would generally arrive when the customer wants to keep their existing system, mostly billing system, and would want to have automatic data exchange. |
| 6. |
Does the doctor have to buy the entire package? |
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No. A doctor can start with any module and slowly embrace other modules as per their convenience. |
| 7. |
What happens if the doctor turns off the service after few months? |
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We make every attempt to work any challenges that we can influence to ensure customers are happy with our system. If this unfortunate event were to ever happen, we would gladly do the transition ensuring full support from PracticeSuite.com. The data is returned back to the office in an industry standard format so the office can reuse the data with their new system. |
| 8. |
When the service is turned off, what happens to the data entered in PracticeSuite? |
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PracticeSuite.com is a CUSTODIAN of customer data like a bank is a CUSTODIAN of our money. We do not own the data, we are merely possessing on behalf of doctor, and therefore, required data is given back in an industry standard readable format with documentation on how to interpret the data. Typically we do not charge for this request in general unless some specific requirements are put forth. |
| 9. |
What specialties does PracticeSuite work for? |
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Medical Pre-built Consultant Sheet
Currently Available
- Internal Medicine
- General Practitioner
- Primary Care
- Pediatrics
- Family Practice
- Cardiologist
- ENT
- OBGYN
- Osteopaths
- Chiropractor
- Ophthalmologist
- Optometry
- General Surgeons
- Gastroenterologist
- Physical Therapist
- Orthopedic
- Neurologist
- Infectious Disease
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| 10. |
How is the customer service performed? |
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PracticeSuite is a customer focused company and believes in offering the highest quality of support to our clients. Support is performed through phone, email and online real time chat. We encourage clients to use online real time chat, as it is faster and you don't really have to be holding the phone line, in addition, you can multi-task as you chat with the support analyst. |
| 11. |
How do you ensure doctor data security? |
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PracticeSuite is hosted out of a professionally managed class data centers. The site is monitored by security personal, surveillance cameras, and servers are locked in cages. Access to the data center is restricted to authorized personnel only. Logical access to the server is secured by Operating System Security, Firewall, Database Security and other industry standard security measures. All communication between the server and the client computer is encrypted with industry standard 128 bit SSL encryption. Access to the data is restricted to personal who service the client. PracticeSuite follows procedures and policies on information security. Further information on data security is documented in the PracticeSuite's information security document, which can be obtained from our office. |
| 12. |
Where is the data stored? |
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The data is stored in a professionally managed data center in Santa Clara, California and Austin , Texas. |
| 13. |
What is the technology behind your solution? |
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PracticeSuite is based on cutting edge technology. PracticeSuite runs on a Linux Operating System, with Tomcat-Apache and industry's leading database - Oracle. The front end is developed using JSP (Java Server Pages). |
| 14. |
I am paranoid of keeping patient data outside? |
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This is a valid concern. The best analogy we can offer you is of a Bank. Like Banks, we are CUSTODIAN of your data. We have responsibilities and requirements that are more stringent than you would have with your own data. As bank is responsible to take care of your money, so are we responsible to protect your data as a PROFESSIONAL AND RESPONSIBLE CUSTODIAN.
Second, with increasing compliance requirements from HIPPA, a doctor has responsibility towards protecting the privacy of patient health information. Particularly in the area of information security, HIPPA regulation put technology related security burden on doctor who is not a technology security professional. This is all the more reasons that doctors should leave the data security in the hands of technology experts. As an e.g., a doctor would be become liable if the data from the server were to be hacked, or the servers get stolen or the IT guy took the hard disk for repair and lost it in transit etc. |
| 15. |
The doctor would like to have a copy of his data? |
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Yes. We would be happy to send the data to doctor's office on a weekly basis either as CD or as encrypted email. Additional charges may apply. We have not automated this process since there aren't very many requests coming for it. |
| 16. |
Do you provide in-house install? |
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Yes. We do provide in-house install as a monthly subscription. |
| 17. |
Can the doctor create a note? |
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Yes. |
| 18. |
Does the EMR offer a Problem List, and how does it use the ICD-9 codes, filter for problems and link to the SOAP note? |
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Yes to the first. To the second, there is no inherently required link between an ICD-9 code and an item placed on the problem list. Because physicians use 'problem' lists differently, we include in a separate diagnosis listing, which may be populated automatically from diagnoses clicked off by a clinician in a chart note. Many systems do not offer both problem and diagnosis lists. |
| 19. |
Does EMR accommodate scanned items for attachment to a record? |
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Yes. |
| 20. |
Is EMR a single platform or integrated with a practice management system? |
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Integrated, but all components, PMS, scheduling, EMR, patient communications portal, and billing services are available separately, or in any combination. |
| 21. |
If integrated, which programs already have interfaces built, tested and functioning? What is the price of that interface? |
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No interfaces have been built with third party competitors. The charge to build an interface will be nominal, if any. Put another way, if the requested interface is for a system where we think there may be other requests then we probably won't charge anything. If on the other hand, the other system is obscure then we probably will want to charge something. We would emphasize the word 'nominal' at this point - because it really will be nominal, as in under $1000.00
Please also see question # 5. |
| 22. |
What is the underlying database for the EMR program? (SQL? Access? Other?) |
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Oracle. See question # 13. |
| 23. |
What software is it built on? |
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| 24. |
The prescribing module - does it check for drug interactions, allergies, etc.? |
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Yes |
| 25. |
Will the EMR generate reminders for the physician? |
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Yes |
| 26. |
Does it include growth charts for children and guidelines for adults? |
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Yes to the first, further enhancements are scheduled. No to the second - at this time. |
| 27. |
Does it include the ACOG flow sheets for OB/GYN? |
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Not as yet. |
| 28. |
Does it include drawings or the ability to draw for the patient? |
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Yes. |
| 29. |
Does the software allow uploading of Insurance Company information (for reimbursement, etc.) from a disk? |
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Yes. |
| 30. |
Should a customer cancel their subscription (or service), what happens to the data? |
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See questions 14 & 15 |
| 31. |
Do you house the servers in-house or at a data center? |
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Servers are located in data centers in Santa Clara, CA and Austin TX |
| 32. |
Will I have a dedicated server? What kind of servers do you have (Sun, Dell, HP, etc.) |
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The hardware resources & codes are shared between customers. Our current lines of servers are from Dell. Each customer's data is stored in a separate dedicated Oracle schema. |
| 33. |
What platform do you use i.e. Windows, Linux, Solaris? |
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Linux |
| 34. |
What are the specifications of the server i.e. RAM, RAID 1 disk storage, dual processor, hot-swappable drives? |
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We build our servers to our own rigorous specifications to ensure high availability, fail-over and redundancy. |
| 35. |
Are your servers monitored to ensure continuity (they are up and running)? If yes, how often are the servers checked (ICMP Ping, HTTP and/or HTTPS) |
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HTTPS and Ping monitoring |
| 36. |
Are the servers backed up? If yes, to what? A Storage Device? |
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Data are backed up to offsite storage device & location. We use Oracle Archive log real-time data backup and daily backup of schemas. |
| 37. |
What Web Server software do you use (Apache or IIS or other)? |
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Apache - Tomcat |
| 38. |
What kind of security do you provide for content upload & download? |
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SSH, SFTP and HTTPS (SSL) |
| 39. |
How is content upload & download accomplished? WebDav over SSL? FTP or WinSCP over SSH? Front Page Server Extensions over SSL? Or other? |
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SSH and SSL |
| 40. |
Do you have a firewall and/or VPN (both) in front of the server? If yes, what specifically is it? Juniper NetScreen, Checkpoint or other? |
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Our data center routers and servers have appropriate firewall, physical and logical security to prevent & detect intrusions and other security vulnerabilities. |
| 41. |
What is your Server Uptime promise? Your SLAs? |
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99.99% |
| 42. |
Will I be on your bandwidth? If yes, how would be allocated to me if I use your EMR (what increment in Mbps)? T1 or Fast Ethernet? |
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Generally speaking, we find that our bandwidth at our data centers is more than adequate. The challenge is usually felt at the client's site. Our datacenter bandwidth is shared by all traffic on servers. |
| 43. |
How long has PracticeSuite been in business? |
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Since July 2003 |
| 44. |
Who is PracticeSuite parent company if any? |
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Mercury Solutions |
| 45. |
Once a contract is signed, how long does the implementation take? |
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Anywhere between 1 to 10 calendar days (not man-days) depending upon modules, data conversion & training required. |
| 46. |
Who is the implementation team? |
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Clinical and technical members of our partners & PracticeSuite. |
| 47. |
What resources will we need for implementation? |
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Designated hours for training, implementation, customization, access to in-house servers for data conversion. Availability of doctors and office staff to answer questions in a timely manner. |
| 48. |
How many days onsite/offsite will it take for implementation and customization for the Pediatric Endocrine specialty? |
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Average training time for EMR is about 4 hours. EMR customization can be performed on the fly by the doctor. We would provide the necessary training. The building of the consultation sheets, canned sheets, items and values is really a personal choice of the doctor and how perfect the doctor would like his encounter narratives to look like. You would have most of the frequently used elements during the implementation. The customization and personalization of the EMR evolves as the doctors records more and more patient encounters. |
| 49. |
How long will it take to test the system to make sure everything is running smoothly? |
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Once we setup up the system and perform data conversion, we will release the system for final sign off. We try few end to end test cases to ensure that everything is flowing as anticipated. |
| 50. |
How many days for training? |
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EMR training generally last for 4 hours and followed by another 4 hours of onsite on-the-job training. Remainder of the training is self-serviced through our online product documentation and online training videos. For doctors who are tech savvy, onsite training may not be required. |
| 51. |
What is the response time/ turnaround for troubleshooting an issue? How many individuals are dedicated to troubleshoot issues? |
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The turnaround time depends upon the issue and nature of the resolution required. We have 15 dedicated software engineers to perform code fix. If the issue does not require a code fix, the resolution will be provided during the support call itself. If a code fix is required, again depending upon what it takes to fix, how severe the bug is, would determine its resolution time. A code fix will require a minimum of 24 hours turnaround time. |
| 52. |
How many individuals are dedicated for customer support? Hours of customer support operation? |
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We offer support through email, chat, phone and our knowledge management resources. We have enough resource to meet your support needs. One of the good things about PracticeSuite is that the need of support has been found to be minimal. Our product is simple, easy and intuitive. Doctors and office managers were involved to ensure that the product closely matches the user requirements. |
| 53. |
User and technical documentation provided? |
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Yes. We have online user guide and technical documentation. These are provided as context sensitive help. Most of these are available online within the product. |
| 54. |
Frequency of upgrades for your application? |
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Major upgrades are provided as needed (Compliance, new features etc) |
| 55. |
Frequency of service packs, patches, etc.? |
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Scheduled patching is once a month, but we patch the system as required. |
| 56. |
Existing interface with lab vendors and transcription vendors? |
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Quest and Labcore. We would need your help to work with your Account Rep to enable integration for your practice. We provide interface and access to your preferred transcription vendors |
| 57. |
Application Surescripts/RxHub certified? |
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Yes |
| 58. |
Application certified HIPAA compliant by third party? Who is the third party? |
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It was certified by an Information Security Consultant, who had prior experience performing HIPAA and information security compliance. |
| 59. |
Application compliant with CHI standards for interoperability? |
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We would provide custom XML and HL7 gateway as required by CCHIT. |
| 60. |
Long term goals for your software? |
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Automate and simplify client interaction workflow for doctors, lawyers, accountants and other service professionals. |
| 61 |
Are you CCHIT compliant? |
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We have plans to pursue the CCHIT compliance. However we have reviewed CCHIT compliance guidelines and have performed an internal assessment to meets all CCHIT guidelines required for certification. |
