Stratford Software
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Our present windows version work best with Windows 2000 & XP, 2003 server and Vista. Our Windows version works with those as well as the 64bit operating systems. We have successfully tested it with the 'beta' of the coming Windows 7. Behind the data-entry screen, it is more up to date than any program we have seen. All Stratford software is multi-user, in fact, we have never published a single-user (rinky-dink) application. Unlike some other software vendors we do not charge when you add workstations. Our software is proven and it works. It is the best healthcare billing program available. It will work for the largest customers and it is priced for the smallest. It has been fully Y2K tested by EDS for Medicare billing. What other software vendor could make that statement in January 1998?
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We keep our program current with all the changes in healthcare billing, especially the changes in EDI. That is our first commitment. We want to have a program that works first and then make it as beautiful as we can - second. All electronic transmissions are required to be in the ANSI X.12 transaction sets. We have had customers transmitting heavy volume in this format since April, 1994. What other billing software company could make that claim in 1994? Version 4010 of the ANSI X.12 formats is required by the 1996 HIPAA federal law. We already had it coded several years ago and it is now in the hands of all customers who have Stratford's version 1812 or later. v4010 was approved in June 2002 (by Medicare) and v4010-A1 (addendum) was approved in June 2003 (by Medicare). All customers with our most recent 'dos-compiled' and 'windows-compiled' versions have it. v4010 was approved by EDS/NHIC for Medicare claim transmission in June 2002. We began distributing the 'A1' (addendum to v4010) version in June 2003.
We have had ANSI X.12 v5010 coded and in all updates as of January 2007. All current versions of the Stratford program have the ANSI X.12 V5010 A1 transactions sets integrated now. There is a section in the manual that shows how to activate it. You can create some claims in a pre-EDI claim file. Using that claim file, you can create the v4010 version format. Then with a simple change in the EDI control screen, create the v5010 version format from that same claim file. We expect HIPAA to approve v5010 to replace v4010 so that the ICD10 codes can be used to replace ICD9 (just one of several reasons). ICD-10-CM (diagnosis codes) and ICD-10-PCS (procedure codes) have been adopted by almost all countries in the world except the USA. The Stratford windows version was designed to be compatible with ICD10 and will accommodate all the known variations/extensions of ICD-10. The present Stratford data table field is 9 characters alpha numeric. ICD-9 is 5 characters (about 13,000 codes) and ICD-10 is 7 characters (about 120,000 codes).
Our "Windows only" version is available for download from this web site. If you are interested, just fill out the form on this web site. We will send you an email with an ID/password for downloading. We can also deliver it on CD if you do not have sufficient bandwidth to download the program. The dos-compiled version is about 17 megabytes and the windows-compiled version is about 130+ megabytes (compressed). Neither version is well-suited for modem download. We recommend DSL or cable modem connections only.
The windows-compiled version allows you to convert data from your existing dos-compiled Stratford program so you can try it and see how it works. You can have the windows-compiled version and old dos-compiled version working on the same computer. The conversion process works across networks and every other type of hardware installation that we have tested.
Scheduling and related non-billing functions: The Windows version has a graphical scheduler. It is a comprehensive, generic, scheduler. It has 'hooks' that will allow us to expand its functions even more in the future.
Electronic Healthcare Records: ( EHR, EMR, EPR) Stratford has clinical medical records for all specialties in the program now. This is a fully integrated module - no importing or exporting data. We plan to have extensions to the present database structure as soon as the government adopts a standard. We also plan to make software available that will allow Stratford customers to exchange patient information with other implementations of the government standard. More information here.
e-Prescriptions - Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) - should reduce the errors in prescribing. The prescription will be entirely electronic. The doctor will compose the prescription on his/her computer/pda and transmit the prescription directly to the pharmacy or use a 'mail box' intermediary. As soon as standards are established, Stratford plans to implement it as a fully integrated module at no additional charge from Stratford (there may be fees imposed by various organizations). We have the screens coded now and the tables constructed using the draft specifications so it should not take long to finish as soon as the final specifications are available. More information here.
Database structure: We are using Microsoft developer tools. We distribute a royalty free database that has no pre-defined number of users. This database has no additional charges per workstation and/or server configurations. This will work for all healthcare provider organizations that we have tested.
We will attempt to allow our users to have full and unrestricted access to their data from their word processing and reporting applications. We recommend 'OpenOffice' for those clients who do not have Microsoft office. We find it to be fully compatible and even easier to use.
Longer term products: One of the products that we plan to develop is a complete billing, scheduling system for IPAs and HMOs. Hundreds or thousands of providers could be linked with a single scheduling system. A primary care provider could allocate a number of visits for a patient with a particular specialist on-line in real-time. The billing and encounter reporting could be an integral part of the system. The payer organization would have built-in, incredibly flexible reporting capabilities. The reporting could be done today on yesterday's data. A new level of cost / risk management would be possible. Most current and future internet browsers may display the screens.
Long term plans include SQL, Clustering, Internet Server technologies. See back issues of the newsletter for more details.
We have been doing development work with SQL servers since January 1995. This technology offers increased security and scalability. This means that you can have thousands of simultaneous users working in a fault-tolerant environment. Some versions of SQL offer automatic recovery from power failures and other system crashes. Some versions of SQL can be backed up while users are accessing the data. SQL is generally more costly and our present database structure is able to easily handle all the situations we have seen so far.
Contact:
Stratford Software
Tel: (800) 274-4594
Fax: (650) 344-7970
Email: sal...@stratfordsoftware.com
Web: http://www.softshare.com
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