Hospitals seeking advice from their peers on any number of issues have used these list to get more information about Boston WorkStation. These are just a few of the comments we've seen on the Meditech L and the HISNET.
HISNET
"In 1991 we first contracted for STAR I found MicroScript - the original version of Boston WorkStation and convinced HBOC (now McKesson) that it would not 'harm' STAR because it was just another user. It was like non- invasive surgery! I would present talks at SPUG, TIMES, InSight, etc. as the User Group name changed. It works and you need it."
Fred Henning, Alexion Brothers
Scripting with STAR is really quite easy and can be very useful in automating many daily and repetitive tasks. Personally, I have been using and teaching Microscript / Boston Workstation for about 10 years. Boston workstation is a tried and tested solution when working with STAR. Below is the link to the relationship between McKesson and Boston Workstation.
McKesson Integration Partners There have been several Boston Workstation presentations and they also have had a booth at the product solutions center at recent insight conferences. The bottom line is that Boston workstation has been a reliable and affordable solution for STAR customers in the past and will continue to be in the future. If you have any specific questions please feel free to contact me or your account executive about Boston Workstation.
Shawn Widenhofer
McKesson - STAR Vista Reporting
I have used a number of Scripting tools starting with the original MicroScript I am actually using BWS to script Vendor Notes into STAR. Since BWS uses an API to connect thru HBOWEM to STAR it should be able to do anything you presently can do via HBOWEM I.E. if you manually input a Note you can automate the input of Notes via a script.
Fred Henning
Alexian Brothers Health System
If you are working with STAR you may want to consider the fact that Boston Workstation uses HBOWEM (16 or 32 bit) as the emulation. This means that it will be 100% compatible with anything you need to do with STAR. HBOC is using Boston Workstation so I guess they have found that it works reliably. I have used Scripting tools since installing STAR in 1991 using the original MicroScript for parts of the build. MicroScript was developed by Boston Software. I have used all of the various iterations since then. It Works!
Fred Henning
Alexian Brothers Health System
MEDITECH L
As of this month I have been using Boston Workstation for three years. I have personally deployed it in over a dozen Client Server environments. It has proven quite reliable. Furthermore Boston Software Systems' commitment to support, ongoing product development and user education has been exceptional.
Eric Rogers
Senior Project Manager/Analyst
Specialty Laboratories
We have been using Boston Workstation nearly since they started the company and are very satisfied. Customer service is excellent. We just had a web based ed session with them this morning, free of charge. The product is very user friendly and easy to learn. They also sponsor a email listserv where ideas and support are freely exchanged. They just released the third update and there have been several interim updates. These are product enhancements mind you not bug fixes. They are constantly working to enhance the product and customer feed back is high priority in these enhancements. I could talk up the features, which are extensive, but they could tell you that part better than I. There are some products out there that are less expensive but Boston Workstation is very reasonable. And if you add up what you get you are ahead with Boston Workstation. There is no end to what you can do with it if you let your imagination work a little.
Bill Palmer
Mid-Columbia Medical Center
I've never seen the Automate product, so I won't comment on it one way or the other, but I have used Boston Workstation extensively. While I'm not sure what the maintenance fees are, I do know from talking to others that the amount is minimal compared to many other packages. Along with that, whatever the amount is, I have to believe it is worth it when you consider the phenomenal support you get from the folks at BWS. I have yet to run anything by them that doesn't get answered the day the question is posed. Now to the original question... we have used BWS for updating many LAB dictionaries as well as day-to-day tasks for many other modules. Also, it is not limited to scripting in Meditech. BWS can be used for scripting in any application including the web. I promise that if it is something repetitive that a user would normally do, a script can take their place. Again, this is just my opinion as I'm sure Ron and others have had luck with their respective scripting tools. All I can say is if you go with BWS you will not be disappointed.
Ross Stolle
Avera McKennan Hospital
We think Boston Workstation has the best scripting tool on the market at a very reasonable price. Support for Boston Workstation has been very prompt and accurate.
Bill Palmer
Mid-Columbia Medical Center
I agree with Bill, we've been using Boston Workstation for about 6 months now and LOVE it, it's a great product.... but what I really love about it is the customer service..... couldn't ask for better, they've taught me soooooooo much about scripting. As far as their fees go, as long as you don't have to deal with Pam you'll be fine, she's a tough negotiator, lol.... just kidding ..... I love Pam ..... she's great ... I was actually surprised at how reasonable the product pricing was compared to what it can accomplish within the organization..... you can really think outside the box with this product and accomplish alot....... or at least that's been my experience
Chad Turner
Northeast Medical Center
I am using Boston Software's Boston WorkStation. It also comes with a product named DataStation that is part of the software suite. I find it very easy to use, but, then again, I have a programming background. However, I know of several persons that are using it that are analysts and they like it too. Perhaps the greatest strength of WorkStation is the support from BSS. It is phenomenal! If they have some code or script that they are aware of, they are more than willing to share it for free. There is a nice script repository at their website (although it is relatively new, so not very robust yet) and users are encouraged to contribute. The user community, through BSS' TALK listsrv, is very helpful when questions are asked. I swear, at times, working with the staff and users of BWS is like working with family; there is no such thing as a stupid question, and there is a lot of support to go 'round. ... Oh, and BWS works with all sorts of software, not just Meditech, so it is universally useful. But still, they do have a lot of documentation and tools for hooking into Meditech.
Lew Hundley
Silverton Hospital
I want to state for the record that I am completely and totally and thoroughly satisfied with Corrina, Sara, BSS the company, BWS6.5 the application, and the technical support process of Boston Software. My experience with them and the learning of how to script has been nothing but positive and productive! I would recommend Boston Workstation 6.5 to ANYONE with a scripting need. It was my own misinterpretation of what was happening that led me to post the original message to the Meditech-L. It never crossed my mind that the message might be interpreted as "negative" or suggestive that BSS was in any way at fault in their support process. I think it says a lot when the president of a company takes an email like mine so seriously, and personally reacts to it in the way that Sara did. Corrina called me first thing this morning and webex'd in to my pc and helped me to add code to my script that will hopefully prevent my workstation session from "backing out" like it did before. I am very impressed with how Boston Software has treated me from the get-go. Their support has been exceptional and has far exceeded my expectations!
David McAllister
Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center
We have been using 835 electronic remit since 1997. ... Because we don't produce the 837 from LSS, we can't bring the 835 back in, as there is no specific line identifier. Instead we developed a script using Boston Workstation and script in the 835 if there is only one line item on the claim. If there are more than one line items or an error condition exists then we let the casheir sort it out manually.
John Curtiss
Hutchinson Area Health Care
Hi, we understand you are interested in receiving feedback from Meditech users that are using Boston Workstation. We have been very happy with the product since we began using it about 9 months ago. We were looking for something to replace our old Microscript product and BW was a great solution for us. We primarily use it as a scripting tool from Excel's Visual Basic Editor to populate Meditech dictionaries from a spreadsheet. We've added thousands of new entries for Cost Accounting and B/AR procedure codes and updated hundreds of fee schedules. We've built logic into the script for different circumstances the script may encounter. It has saved many hours of manual entry and lots of errors. We are currently interested in scripting our Array billing charges from the Array system into billing which will alleviate the need to use the old 1/2" reel to reel tapes in order to save the file and bring over to B/AR. We've been able to do all this without any training although we are anticipating training in early 2003. Boston Workstation definately gets a thumbs up from our hospital!
Nan Till, Systems Analyst - Information Systems
Bruce Fowler, Manager of Technical Services
Saratoga Hospital, NY
MEDITECH L Archive
HISNET Archive
