Allscripts to Discontinue MyWay EHR

The rumblings are starting to get more and more solid about Allscripts plans to discontinue MyWay. It seems they’ve started by informing their VARs and that’s where the word has gotten out most. Allscripts hasn’t quite said that they’ll be sunsetting MyWay, but the writing is on the wall.

One person I talked to about this said that the fact that Allscripts discontinuing MyWay wasn’t much of a surprise considering what a terrible product it’s been. The term he used most often to describe the product was “buggy.” This wasn’t surprising to me since one of my most discussed posts was one on Evaluating Allscripts EMR which I wrote on my EMR & EHR website.

It seems that Allscripts plan is to discontinue MyWay and try and move those users to Allscripts Professional. The migration of the data seems like it will be free, but it doesn’t seem that Allscripts has yet indicated whether they’ll tack on an extra fee for the more expensive Allscripts Pro product.

I was told that Allscripts did say that they’d be incorporating the best features of MyWay into Allscripts Professional. The person I talked to about this laughed a bit since there were very few features in MyWay that users loved. He assumed that it HAD to be referencing the Full Note composer in MyWay which he said providers seemed to like for documenting the clinical side of things.

I’ve also heard a rumor that Allscripts might be looking for a way to do the Allscripts professional training through some sort of online means. Considering the complexity of Allscripts pro and the configuration and training required to make it functional and workable, this seems like a failed strategy to me. We’ll see how this plays out since I’m sure Allscripts is still defining this strategy.

Of course, the VARs that are supporting all the MyWay implementations will be scrambling with their own plan. I expect many of them won’t be happy with the idea of switching from MyWay to Allscripts professional and will consider other EHR. The obvious option is Aprima since they created the original MyWay and then forked the project to create their current Aprima EHR offering.

I’m told that Aprima has totally redone the PM side of their Aprima EHR which is a good thing since many weren’t satisfied with the PM in MyWay. It certainly makes a lot of sense for Allscripts MyWay VARs to consider Aprima since it will provide a similar user experience for their users and I have little doubt that Aprima will be able to port the data out of MyWay and into Aprima. My only question is if that’s the right move. Should you move to Aprima because it’s an easy transition or should a Var instead search to find the best EHR out there (which could be Aprima in the end anyway, I’ll leave that judgement to others)?

No doubt many of the other EHR vendors out there are going to look at this as a great opportunity for them as well. I’d be interested to learn more about Allscripts MyWay technology structure and how well the data can be ported to another EHR.

It must be an interesting time at Allscripts with this happening along with talks of Allscripts considering a sell out to a Private Equity Buyer.

UPDATE: Aprima sent out the following offering for Allscripts MyWay users.

PLEASE NOTE: In some earlier communications, Aprima had used the word ‘ABANDON’ to describe Allscript’s approach to its MyWay customers. Instead of using the language ‘ABANDON,’ what we should have said is that it is no longer developing or updating the MyWay product, including compliance for government incentives and requirements such as Meaningful Use and ICD-10. We apologize for any confusion.

APRIMA OFFERS LIFELINE TO ABANDONED MYWAY CUSTOMERS

According to Allscripts, the MyWay product will not be enhanced to meet Stage 2 Meaningful Use and customers are being told they will need to convert to an alternative Allscripts product starting in January 2013. There is an announcement posted at this link: http://blog.allscripts.com/2012/10/05/evolving-industry-evolving-ehrs/.

However, that is not the only option MyWay customers have. You may not be aware that MyWay is based on Aprima’s PRM 2008 version. Since that time, Aprima has made almost 1,000 enhancements to the product!

With the Allscripts announcement to discontinue development efforts on MyWay, and force a conversion to another product, the time and effort required of a practice will be enormous. The lost productivity of converting could negatively impact the practice for many months if not a year.

Providers are not “stuck;” they have the opportunity to UPGRADE to Aprima.

Aprima will not charge a license fee to any MyWay customers who sign a maintenance and support agreement. You may continue to work with your existing MyWay reseller (requires the reseller to become an Aprima Reseller), and your data will migrate as part of the UPGRADE. Training is limited to only learning the new features so there is virtually no downtime.

Aprima has successfully UPGRADED MyWay customers with no data loss – there is no conversion required. (Small UPGRADE labor fee required per database.)

Please contact Aprima at mywayrescue@aprima.com or your current reseller for more information.

I also got this message from Allscripts about their decision to end MyWay EHR:

It’s no secret that the healthcare IT market is changing rapidly. To enable our clients to succeed, we must change as well. That’s why, to better meet the needs of small and mid-sized practices, we are providing a free upgrade from Allscripts MyWay to a new converged platform that leverages the Professional Suite.

This upgrade better equips our clients to meet increasing regulatory pressures and shifting payment models to value-based care. And, by focusing our investment on a single EHR for this market, we can deliver innovations faster. Innovations like Allscripts Wand™, our native iPad solution, which is getting rave reviews from clients. Over time, we will deliver a converged clinical platform that delivers the best of both solutions.

We based this decision on client input on prioritization of new features and functionality. The upgrade will immediately deliver key benefits of our converged platform:
• Powerful Practice Management
• Robust Analytics
• Community Connectivity, and
• Anytime, Anywhere Mobile Access.
We’re working closely with our clients to deliver a simple upgrade process that included advanced toolkits, pre-built templates, and customized training. We’re confident this move will enable our clients to succeed in the ever-changing healthcare industry.