Stephen,
Rather than point someone to a discussion forum ...I would point your
customers to the many vendors that employ MUMPS today in their
applications....Epic, Meditech, Quadramed, Eclipsys, Cerner,
McKesson/HBOC (or whatever they go by today), IDX, Keane etc. Kaiser
Permanante is investing a huge amount of money in implementing
Epic....close to a billion if memory serves me well.
Can someone list major health applications that don't use MUMPS....it's
been a while since I looked...
Joseph
Kevin Toppenberg wrote:
Stephen,
I would tell prospective clients that if they want software that has
shiny installers like Windows provides, and that can be supported by
programmer chosen out of a phone book, then they can spend 10x more
for a commercial package--and then be locked into that package. But
if they are willing to put a little effort into it, the package will
pay off well. The VA has millions of man-hours in investment put into
the development of the package, and likely millions more hours of live
use.
We purchased a billing software package, only to find that it still
has bugs in it. They tell us to do X,Y, and Z to send our claims to
Medicare. We do it and it doesn't work. "Not our fault" they say.
Then they install a "patch" a few days later and it starts working.
Hmmm. And want an added feature? Get out your check book.
I'm just a physician with no formal computer training. And yet I have
sucessfully installed VistA for my office (with the help of this list)
and have nearly a year of use now with zero down time. Imagine what a
real programmer could do if they applied themselves to learning the
system?
They say not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Well if you look
closely at this open source EMR package you will find undesirable
parts. But its hard to argue with the fact that it just plain runs.
I like to gripe about programming in M/Mumps. But its kind of like a
mechanic complaining about having to work on engines in cars that are
put insideways etc. They may be a hassle, but that doesn't mean that
the car still won't operate just fine.
So maybe this list isn't the best place to send potential clients
anymore than you would send people on the sales floor of an auto
dealership out into the repair shop.
After all, the name of this list calls for a "hardhat." :-)
Kevin
On 1/15/06, Stephen Hay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi,
I came to this forum with the bright idea that VistA could
be localised, would be ideal for implementation in
developing countries, could be adapted to the New Zealand
scenario and a whole lot of other things...
One of the questions I keep coming up against is "MUMPS,
what's that?" Which then leads on to something like, "how
can you assure me that if I adopt your open-source,
mission-critical application, you can provide me with the
programming support to make the changes..."
So far, from what I've seen in these forums, I need some
reassurance...
How can I point a prospective "client" to the only forums
that I know of on VistA and calm his concerns?
Reading these forums with the eyes of a rank-outsider, it's
making the "sale" a lot harder. Can anyone help? Please?
And if I've completely missed the point, would someone be
gracious enough to put me out of my misery...
Thanks,
Stephen
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