Talk with my DME about Encore Pro 2.0

I had a chat with my DME about Encore pro 2.0 today. Well they pretty much hate it. They actually went back to using the old software for the pt's who they can use it for and only use the new software for the pt's with the new machine. They said it was not as friendly or familiar as the old software, which I already new. They said it was a pain to install and get running which I replied tell me something I don't know and she just smiled. She said they had to have a manufacturer rep come out and meet with their IT department to install the software on their computers. She said they were not able to upgrade to windows 7 64 because this software was supposedly never tested for windows 7 64, and the old software was never intended to be run on a 64 bit system.
Their was also a complaint that they had to shut down the software they aren't running at the time because they all cause problems with each other. She was referring to software from different machine manufacturers, that they can't run at the same time. Also the biggest complaint was that encore is a hawg that even once it is shut down you can't start another manufacturers program until you reboot. That problem I believe is just in some setting in windows with it releases USB ports and shutting down drivers when not in use.
They have the manufacturer rep coming out again to fix some of the problems they have with the software. These complaints have also been voiced by other labs that my DME has spoken to.

If they are this busy fixing things at sleep labs, I wouldn't expect a pt version any time soon.

Gerry

Glad I'm not the only one having issues... lol. Interesting

Thanks for the insight.

I should give them some tech support mine works sweet under win 7 ultimate with the xp virtual machine.....

Your lucky, mine is running ok but when I log out it logs out closes and opens to the login page again. Then the conversion program is another story.
Gerry

I did the virtual machine thing on my windows vista 64 bit system. Installed XP Pro 32 bit without any problems, but I cant get it to recognize my USB ports (and subsequently, my memory card to import the data) not sure why it wont work, I've added the USB ports in the hardware settings, but they just don't work. The card shows up on the host computer and not the virtual one when I plug it in...

C D / D V D drive work fine on the VM machine though. Its weird. Anyway... So far, I'm using my OLD xp computer to get by, but I would love to have this working on my current machine. 64 bit sure does cause me a lot of headaches from time to time!!

Did you hook the card up before you installed the software? Also their is another program to install the smart card, unlike version 1.8 which had it built into the program.

One you have it installed you need go to the task manager and click the servies tab. The look to the bottom right corner where you will see a button that says servies, click on that and another box called services will pop up. Scroll down to smart card and smart card reader of which both should be set to automatic. If they aren't set to auto you need to change it then reboot and try downloading. That should work.

Gerry

I requested a printout of recent data from my DME at one point. I brought in my SD card and they proceeded to do [what they referred to as] a "download" of my data. I noticed from the printouts that they were using EncoreAnywhere, not EncorePro 2.x. Seemed quick enough that I don't think they had any troubles like mentioned in the original post.

I've been keenly interested in the topic of patient-accessiblity to the data recorded by the PR System One machines, and read as much as I can find on the topic whenever possible. While the truth of the matter is simply that nobody will know for sure until we actually have a patient-accessible solution in hand, I've got a few running guesses and suspicions. One of which is that EncoreAnywhere will replace the other two products, Viewer and Pro. This post of yours seems to be consistent with that theory, actually.

Perhaps EncoreViewer has halted development entirely and EncorePro is only being updated with the bare minimum support required for existing channels so as to not impede/delay the PR-Series launch. The only other known product in that family is EncoreAnywhere, which could be the target solution for all future data accessibility and compliance needs. I got a little into this theory and composed a disturbingly large separate thread so as not to steal this one:
viewtopic/t47906/Speculation-EncoreAnyw ... ution.html

its my understanding that encore anywhere is required to download PR machines.

Nope, the PR machines is the only real reason EP 2.2 was released. The only thing that was really added was the support for the new machines. The rest is hated by the clinicians.

Doze wrote: One of which is that EncoreAnywhere will replace the other two products, Viewer and Pro. ... The only other known product in that family is EncoreAnywhere, which could be the target solution for all future data accessibility and compliance needs. ...

Not likely as they need a separate provider solution with adjustable Rx and patient data base like Pro does now so a single solution is not likely an alternative.

FinceMgr wrote:Not likely as they need a separate provider solution with adjustable Rx and patient data base like Pro does now so a single solution is not likely an alternative.

I'm truly sorry to refute your assertion here, as I'm so appreciative of your other posts! But I had assumed that EncoreAnywhere would have both those features, and just went to look for them. From the manufacturer site:
http://encoreanywhere.respironics.com/features.aspx

Real-Time Data Access ... will automatically upload pressure prescription changes.

Detailed Patient Records In-depth information about your patients can be easily captured, including device, mask and accessory prescriptions; model numbers and sizes; contact information; and a log of past patient interactions, patient photo, primary and secondary insurance, medical care team, reminders and notes. This data is an invaluable resource for your Supply Replacement program.


It appears to me that Anywhere includes every feature in Pro. Check out the screenshots to see just how similar it is.
http://encoreanywhere.respironics.com/screenshots.aspx

Respironics again will likely need two versions simply because they don't seem to want patients to change their own settings and Dr.'s require access to multiple patients databases and reporting features for the conglomerate. Features which are arguably not needed by patients. Or the online analogy will be one side need be controlling software (Dr.'s side), and the other will be controlled (patients side). Hey I'm all for having them release an un-hobbled full on version for patients to use, but its not likely, necessary, or wanted by the "PRO's" making a career of this.

Most DME's want the data stored on their servers where all the other pt data is located. This is the only company that I know of that has anywhere software. Their web site says it well need a phone line but will not interfere with pt phone line. No, it won't if your not on the phone. It is still a modem just like the old dial up modems for computers. That in itself shows how old that technology is. If it was an up to date technology it would use either wired or wireless access via your home network. This was an option for pt's who's insurance required proof that the cpap was used.

Gerry

There wouldn't need to be two versions of EncoreAnywhere, just different account types. They almost certainly have several different account types already, to support differences between what a provider can view/modify vs what a clinician can view/modify.
As an example, this site is running one version of phpBB, yet there are multiple user account levels of Administrator, Moderator, and Regular Users, all with different permissions to view/post/edit/query/report on the various sets of data that make up the forum. A very similar style of permissions and series of delegations would certainly already be required for EncoreAnywhere to support its current user types. A new account type of 'Patient" is just one more, with probably the most limited subset of available permissions. Your account credentials determine the view you get to see, and what options are available to be modified. Providers would likely be permitted to delegate the ability for a Patient to update say, their current telephone number in their profile, while prescription changes would simply not be allowed from within a Patient-level account.

I wouldn't be so sure most DMEs want that data on their servers. Most DMEs want to know that data is stored and retained and available for their use at any time, sure. But hosting sets of sensitive data on an office PC or at some nearby rinky-dink cheapest-bid hosting company (some are fantastic, many are not) is probably not high on the list of DME desires and wishes. To be prudent about it, they should lease a secure cage or at least a locked cabinet at a hosting center (probably cost prohibitive and causes access delays when hardware fails) or install some security measures at their office, then think about failover plan and/or offsite backups and how to ensure those backups are handled offsite securely and... the list goes on and on. Disaster Recovery plans are annoying, I can declare! I bet most never give it a second thought and have no idea of the potential liability slowly but steadily accruing on their hard drives.
In any case, due to the sensitivity of this data coupled with it's relatively small size, it's almost certainly extremely cost effective for a single large service provider to host the data (these are very small data sets, comparatively) and charge a nominal fee for managing access to it, which is essentially what PR has already begun doing. The centralized costs would be so low per MB (judging from the filesizes i see on my SD card), that PR could potentially just absorb it and charge no fee at all, bundling it into their machine sales as a cost of business.

I suspect the modem-enabled models are a small component of their sales and that most of the data would be uploaded by copying the files off the SD card attached to a patient's PC, while that patient is logged in to their EncoreAnywhere account. It's just a guess of mine, but I think it fits.