Today, we’ve been receiving calls from doctors who are ready to panic. Here’s an excerpt of the email from their software vendor:
“After months of effort in an attempt to survive the ongoing economic crisis, Redpine Healthcare Technologies, Inc. (“Redpine”) has made the difficult decision to discontinue business operations. Effective immediately, Redpine will no longer be able to provide billing services. In addition, as of the end of the month, Redpine will no longer be able to provide software for the benefit of its customers.”
Apparently, many doctors purchased this software as a direct result of an endorsement by a reputedly neutral party. Unfortunately, this is far from atypical. For example, in June 2004, the American Chiropractic Association strongly endorsed a system:
“The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) proudly announces its endorsement and exclusive distribution of Chirocere, an innovative, Web-based service designed to revolutionize the management of chiropractic offices. The new Chirocere service not only reduces overhead costs, but also streamlines clinical and administrative operations for practice of all sizes, leaving doctors of chiropractic free to spend more time caring for their patients.”
Sadly, this was also a short-lived venture and the product and company have been gone for years — with your money. However, such endorsements are common. In fact, we’ve been offered numerous endorsements over the years as well… for a fee. When a speaker at a seminar you’ve attended endorses software, odds are high that some form of compensation is involved. We don’t pay for endorsements. Period. Yet, at any given time, the principals of major state and national associations use ECLIPSE, and a variety of practice management consultants recommend us to their clients.
A Google search related to Redpine indicates that they’ve likely defaulted on at least $350,000 in taxpayer funds that they accepted from Bay County, FL in exchange for relocating to Panama City, FL — where they were expected to create 410 new jobs by 2015 at an average annual salary of $49,000.
If you review the “Size Matters” video on our website, we’ve warned about this for years. Remember, cool websites can’t answer the phone. There’s a reason you should take a company’s track record into consideration before falling for a sales gimmick or pricing that can’t support a company’s long term growth. ECLIPSE has been around now for better than 25 years. And far from becoming stodgy and shopworn, the software continues to incorporate state of the art enhancements, small & large. More to the point, as a company, we don’t owe money to anyone. And our operations aren’t backed by investors. Doctors have gone out of business while they wait for such snafus to get resolved once their billing is affected. Don’t be one of them. Your software is an integral part of your practice.