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Topic starter
Is anyone else really concerned with the new timeline for CEMR (AthenaFlow) v20? LA isn't slated to begin until September and the CPS LA isn't going swimmingly. We are a large organization with lots of custom VFE content, 3rd party apps, and interfaces. We need to implement an EPCS solution by the end of the year and are reliant on a viable v20/Dr. First solution.
It doesn't seem like Athena/Virence are really all that concerned with our concerns. Is anyone else in the same boat wondering how they'll make this happen?
Posted : June 18, 2020 6:50 am
I agree. I thought V20 was supposed to be in GA by July/August sometime. They are really pushing the limit with this. Now of course it will be a mad dash to install, with whatever problems come with it because there won't be any time to wait for the problems to get fixed.
I had high hopes for Virence/Athena but they are not winning my trust right now.
Cross your fingers that we will get to install it by the end of this year!
Michelle
Posted : June 18, 2020 6:59 am
This is just the way they work, nothing has changed in the 10 years I have been working with CPS. They have a December 1st deadline, and they tell you GA will be in June. You know that was never going to happen. You would hope by early September they might have it ready, but then reality hits and GA is more like end of October or first week in November. What they are probably hoping is that mandate is delayed (and they probably have more insight into whether that is likely than I do) so they can push version 20 into 2021.
Whether its delayed or not though expect them not to release version 20 until the last minute, it will be very buggy as well and you'll wonder what they are spending their extra weeks and months doing when they say they are 'fixing bugs'.
Posted : June 18, 2020 6:59 am
Topic starter
In my last conversation with them they didn't allude to any delay in either Part D or MA state requirement. They told me I could implement the legacy EPCS solution which they previously told me to avoid since it is all going away. Arghhhh!!!!
Posted : June 18, 2020 7:02 am
I had discussion with Quautris and they recommended doing EPCS now so that it would be done by the deadline and we would not be scrambling at the end getting the EPCS finished. I think that new Electronic prescribing standard schedule was postponed into later in 2021.
Posted : June 18, 2020 7:16 am
This is ironic that your post appeared today. I was just in our IT Director's office "freaking out" about our V20 upgrade! This is a ridiculous time crunch. We opted out of V19 but decided in early February to go ahead and get EPCS implemented and out of the way in preparation for the upgrade. It was quite painful (imagine sitting with irritated MDs while they answer questions about their credit report...) but we got through it. After watching the Readiness Webinar (twice because it's a lot of confusing information) I feel the same stress that you do. One positive is that you don't have to transition to Medication Management until 9/1/2021, so you can use the V20 "Classic" version until you are ready to implement (at least that's how I understand it - someone please tell me if I'm wrong). My biggest concern at this point is the AUC workflow, which we are not familiar with. Our providers do very few orders (nurses do it all) so when we tell them they have to do clinical decision support to satisfy the powers that be, they are going to be very unhappy. Hopefully I'm worrying for no reason and the workflow is simple. If anyone has input on this I would appreciate it.
Posted : June 18, 2020 8:53 am
We too are in the same boat. We are e-prescribing here, and with the EPCS deadline in Texas 1/1/21 our only option is to try to purchase/implement Imprivata. We have many layers of frustration with athenahealth and the whole v20 upgrade from support contracts to AzureAD. We're quickly learning that NASA is a very small fish in a very large sea and were basically told yesterday that athenahealth as an organization isn't willing to complete all of our required paperwork and are now recommending using a VAR. We've been using this EMR since 8/1999 and to say I'm speechless is an understatement. We're very low maintenance from a user license standpoint, we don't bill insurance, we are't bound by MU req's, and we're still coding in ICD-9. Yes, we are the government and yes we have a very strict security posture, and yes sometimes we're too secure which breaks things. But we've been able to come up with workarounds to make things work in our environment. GE didn't have a problem with our documentation to establish themselves as a government vendor, but apparently there was ZERO knowledge transfer once money changed hands from GE to Virence.
We actually had to suggest Imprivata to our CSM a couple of weeks ago, because all we heard on the webinars was that customers needed to have a EPCS solution in place by 1/1/21. This was prior to the last webinar. Then lo and behold they actually put Imprivata into their slide deck as their recommendation.
My spidey senses are definitely tingling with the LA release date they discussed last week, and there is no way we'll be able to upgrade prior to the end of the year. Our only option now is to upgrade to v20 after the first of the year and hope we have all pieces in place for a Dr. First rollout prior to 9/1/21.
Posted : June 25, 2020 4:08 am
You may want to try reaching out to Dr First for a standalone solution. It may be less costly then an Imprivata solution.
Posted : June 25, 2020 4:18 am
Thank you for the suggestion. I guess we didn't even think of that route, especially since our CSM agreed with our suggestion for Imprivata. Makes total sense though! We will reach out to them.
Posted : June 25, 2020 4:27 am
