The issue the poster noticed really rang a familiar tune with me. Not too long ago a local Optometrist asked me to come in to consult on this very problem. This particular Doctor was finding it difficult to upgrade as most of his Optometric equipment and the proprietary image viewers associated with the equipment required Windows XP.
From the information he gave me, most of his equipment ranged anywhere from $50k all the way up to $400k. When looking into a Visual Field, I noticed they built in obsolescence. The machine was old, needed to be replaced, but in doing that, he would be forced to upgrade Windows. Upgrading windows however would also break functionality with other optometric equipment within his office. If he could buy all new modern equipment that may solve the problem. However purchasing a completely new set of instruments across the board would require far more than they could afford.
With the advent of EMR's there is significant pressure to capture all data and populate the EMR. This seems to compound the issue the Doctor was having as every piece of equipment required something different in terms of which OS he must use. It is a difficult problem in smaller private offices that do not have as much purchasing power.
In my experience I would encourage those facing similar problems to push the manufacturer for the necessary upgrades for their products. When purchasing a $400k retinal camera the manufacturer doesn't see a Windows license and server as a deal breaker.
If older equipment won't integrate with a newer version then keep what is in place with an adjusted plan to replace the equipment itself.
We decided to take on the task of integrating everything and ended up with a re marketable product that fills those gaps. This is my first/. post so I know better than to make a shameless plug for something I've built..
Either way there are many solutions out there for extending the life of a practice with high dollar equipment that grows obsolete. So this is my encouragement to the poster to just dig in and look hard.
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The issue the poster noticed really rang a familiar tune with me. Not too long ago a local Optometrist asked me to come in to consult on this very problem. This particular Doctor was finding it difficult to upgrade as most of his Optometric equipment and the proprietary image viewers associated with the equipment required Windows XP. From the information he gave me, most of his equipment ranged anywhere from $50k all the way up to $400k. When looking into a Visual Field, I noticed they built in obsolescence. The machine was old, needed to be replaced, but in doing that, he would be forced to upgrade Windows. Upgrading windows however would also break functionality with other optometric equipment within his office. If he could buy all new modern equipment that may solve the problem. However purchasing a completely new set of instruments across the board would require far more than they could afford. With the advent of EMR's there is significant pressure to capture all data and populate the EMR. This seems to compound the issue the Doctor was having as every piece of equipment required something different in terms of which OS he must use. It is a difficult problem in smaller private offices that do not have as much purchasing power. In my experience I would encourage those facing similar problems to push the manufacturer for the necessary upgrades for their products. When purchasing a $400k retinal camera the manufacturer doesn't see a Windows license and server as a deal breaker. If older equipment won't integrate with a newer version then keep what is in place with an adjusted plan to replace the equipment itself. We decided to take on the task of integrating everything and ended up with a re marketable product that fills those gaps. This is my first /. post so I know better than to make a shameless plug for something I've built..
Either way there are many solutions out there for extending the life of a practice with high dollar equipment that grows obsolete. So this is my encouragement to the poster to just dig in and look hard.