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Frequently Asked QuestionsQ: Does Stratford plan to have the NPI (National Provider Identifier) integrated into the software?A: Yes it already is - as of late 2004. If you look on the provider screen now you will see a text box for entering the NPI. We already have our CMS paper claim and electronic formats coded for the NPI and we have activated those sections of code as of 01/03/2006. Note that we can activate different payers at different times since it is unlikely (based on our past experience) that all Medicare contractors, Medicaid and all private payers will activate it at the same time. We believe that several (or many) updates will be required in the next 18-24 months as various payers require different claim data. For example, some payers will continue to require legacy IDs. NHIC, the Medicare contractor for New England and California, has approved our code for NPI in the EDI - electronic format. We have received notice from most other payers that either now accept the NPI or will soon. All our versions beginning with v3567 are ready with all NPI code activated. Q: Will you support the new 1500 form?A: yes, we do now. Click here for more information. Q: I have Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista. Will your software work with it?A: Yes. Stratford is a Microsoft "Universal" software developer. This is the highest level available at this time. Stratford software works with all current Microsoft operating systems: Citrix, MS Terminal Server and possibly other multi-user/networking operating systems work well on the hardware configurations that we have tested. Stratford software is not supported on Macintosh or Unix/Linux at this time. Although the Stratford program will run fine on Vista, you should remember that Vista may require a very large amount of memory in order to have acceptable performance. We suggest a minimum of 2gb - more if possible. If you have Vista on a server with more than 5 workstations, you may not be happy with the performance. As of January, 2007, you may wish to consider staying with Wiin2000 or WinXP until Microsoft releases at least one service pack for Vista. Win2000 is probably the best 'supported' operating system for PC's at this time. Q: I am concerned about meeting HIPAA requirements for security of my patient information. What does Stratford recommend?A: Click here. Also, see
the questions: "Do you encrypt your files" and "I would like to put my data
files on a USB2 flash Q: Do you encrypt your files?A: No, that is not a function of an application program like Stratford. If you wish to encrypt your data files, there are several solutions that we have tested and we believe they will meet the HIPAA requirements. There is no way we can guarantee this, of course, because encryption is not a Stratford product. It depends on your hardware/operating system and how it is installed and maintained. You should remember that you are responsible for keeping your hardware secure. The best encryption in existence is worthless if a criminal is allowed access to your hardware and/or your passwords. One 'public' program we have tried is True Crypt. You can 'google' it and check it out. Click here for more information Q2: Second (related) question: Stratford has a login ID and password. That indicates to me that you have security. Why should I not assume that no one can get access to my data unless they have my ID and password? A2. There can be many reasons for having an ID and password. An ID and password does not necessarily guarantee security, encryption or anything else. The Stratford ID and password is the way that you tell the software who you are (who is using the software). The software will use that ID and password to keep track of what you do and the way you like to use the software. You don't know it, but the software also keeps track of what computer (workstation) you are using on a network as well as a lot of other things. The reason you don't know (and have no reason to know) is that the operating system gives that information to the software without your knowledge. Never assume security, encryption or anything else. Remember that your data is absolutely secure if the only people around have no knowledge of it. At the same time, your data is absolutely INsecure around someone who knows how to program even if they have no idea how to use the Stratford program. Q: I would like to put my data files on a USB2 flash memory device like the 'cruzer' or an external hard drive. Is this possible?A: Yes. We have tested several devices. Click here for more information. Q: Do you have an "electronics claims module"?A: Our software handles EDI (electronic claims) without add-on modules. We have been transmitting to Medicare since the early 1980's. It is just another part of our program. We believe that a software package that doesn't do electronic claims without add-ons is not a serious healthcare billing package. Electronic claims is what we do better than any other software. Q: Do you have an Electronic Healthcare Record? Also known as EHR/EMR/EPR/HMR (and others)A: Yes. Here is more information. Q: Do you have electronic prescriptions?A: Yes. Here is more information. Q: How much do you charge for the multi-user version of your software?A: We only have one version and it is multi-user. Stratford has never created single-user (rinky-dink) software. The first version of our software was for a "Unix" like multi-user computer in the late 1970's. Most of our customers eventually have more than one workstation even if they start out with a single-user system. We do not charge extra for more users. In fact, you don't even need to tell us and you don't need anything additional from us. The Stratford program will work perfectly with as many users as your computer hardware/operating system will support. The manual has a tutorial with pictures to help you set up your network. Q: Do you have a "managed care module"?A: Our software handles managed care without add-on modules. It is just another part of our program. We started business in California. Managed care began here. HMO's have been here since the beginning. Stratford wrote a software package for an IPA in the mid 1980's. Virtually all of our users accept managed care plans. We have had to cover all of these payer variations since they began. No, we don't have a "managed care" module (whatever that is), we just have a software package that works. There is nothing special about managed care to us. It is just another billing requirement that we handle very well. Q: If your software is so good, why don't you charge as much as the other companies?A: We believe we charge a fair price. We have thousands of licensed users. Our basic research and development costs have been paid for many years. We have no debt. Our software is easy for us to support. We don't spend a lot of money advertising. We don't spend much on four-color brochures. We won't bury you with self-serving propaganda. Our product is the best you will find. It will sell itself. Q: Can I get a list of your users to call?A: Absolutely! We have listed 400-500 of our users on this web site with their name, city and state. If you know any of them, they may not mind it if you call. Please do not tell them we told you to call. Please, if you are going to call one of our users, ask yourself, "would I like to have my staff answering calls like this?" You should have a list of questions ready so you can let them get back to work quickly. We have nearly 6,000 licensed users as of June 2007. That probably represents more than 25,000 providers. We have been in business since 1977. We have almost all of the customers from the first five years. We are a Medicare "Select" certified vendor. Check to see if our competitor is. ("Select" certified is completely different from "Certified") If we didn't meet the highest standards of quality, we would not qualify. No company can pay to be a "Select" certified vendor like being listed in a catalog or other advertisement. Q: Do you have users in my state?A: Probably. We have users in most states, if not all. Our EDI (electronic claims) program has been approved by most Medicare contractors. Our software includes the formats that CMS requires every Medicare contractor to accept. This is true for every state and US possession. Your state does not have any billing requirements that are significantly different from other states. Q: I have a billing service. Can your software handle more than one doctor/group on one computer?A: Yes. You may have as many as your hardware/operating system will support. The software has no limit. Q: What is the time period for your "money back guarantee?"A: We DO NOT have a money back guarantee. Due to the low cost of this product and the high cost of labor we have a no refund policy on all products and services. In return we give you the lowest cost on the product and on the support. This is why we encourage you to get the free trial version first if you are not certain that you want the software. Remember that if you buy the full version within 90 days, you will get credit for the amount you pay Stratford (if any) for the trial version (less shipping, taxes and other out-of-pocket expenses, of course). The trial version is fully functional and is not "crippled" in any way other than having a database that is limited to 25 patients. There is a page on this web site that will allow you to download the software and/or the manual and other supporting documents at no charge. The manual is in html format, so it works in the browser that you are using to view this web site right now. There is also a 'PDF' version that you can have printed at Kinko's or almost any print shop. You can even print it on your own printer. On another page of this web site there is a form to order the trial version with a manual on CD at a nominal price if you do not want to download it. We can print the manual for you: Click here Q: Do you have all the AMA CPT procedure codes included with your software?A: We DO NOT include the AMA CPT codes with our software. These codes must be obtained from the AMA directly. We do have the HCPCS codes that can be downloaded from the CMS web site. They are available to all providers, free, anytime, from CMS. If you want to use a code that is not in the table, it is very easy to add that code. It is very easy for you to add and delete codes so you can maintain your own files at no cost. The AMA also has the codes for sale on diskette. If you purchase the codes from the AMA, we may be able to help you load them into the lookup tables. Q: Do you have all the ICD-9 diagnosis codes included with your software?A: We include the ICD codes that can be downloaded from the CMS web site. They are available to all providers, free, anytime, from CMS. If you want to use a code that is not in the table, it is very easy to add that code. It is very easy for you to add and delete codes so you can maintain your own files at no cost. The AMA also has the codes for sale on diskette. If you purchase the codes from the AMA, we may be able to help you load them into the lookup tables. Q: I represent a very large group of healthcare providers. We have 80 workstations. Do you have an SQL version?A: We may offer an optional SQL version in the future but there is no definite date or guarantee that it will ever happen. An SQL version would be an extra cost upgrade option - much more expensive. It will not offer any significant advantages for installations with fewer than 20 workstations. It will have the same basic design (same code base). The only difference will be related to the "backend database". The current version will handle 100 or more workstations depending on the hardware and number of concurrent users. Q: In case my computer crashes, how long does it take for you to restore my data?A: We DO NOT have a copy of your data. We cannot restore it. When you purchase the Stratford program, you install it on your computer - a computer that you selected, a computer that you purchased, a computer that belongs to you. Stratford has no way to access your computer. Stratford does not have a copy of your data. You and only you are responsible for making a backup copy of your data. You must keep that backup copy secure. No one can help you restore your data unless you have a backup copy of that data. We may be able to help you restore your backup copy, but that is not our business so you cannot depend on us. You need someone who is 'computer literate' and knows about your specific hardware to help you. If it has been 1 week since you made your last backup copy, you will need to reenter all the data that was entered during that week. If it has been 1 month since you made your last backup copy, you will need to reenter all the data that was entered during that month. If it has been 1 year since you made your last backup copy, you will need to reenter all the data that was entered during that year. You get the idea. How much would it cost for you to pay someone to reenter all that data? How much money would you lose because you do not have a copy of the data? Anytime data is reentered, you can bet there will be data entry errors. How will the data be reentered? Do you have backup paper copies of everything? Don't get yourself into a nightmare situation. A CD-R cost about 25 cents or less. That would be about $1.25 per week for a permanent backup copy. 100 CD-R disks cost about $32 or less at Costco. That is about $81 for 252 (a one year supply - assume 21 working days per month) How much labor can you purchase for $81/year? It is possible that for support purposes, you may send a copy of your data to Stratford for testing. We purposely destroy data that we receive as soon as we finish the testing. This is mandated by the HIPAA federal law for privacy reasons. Under no circumstances can you ever rely on Stratford to have a copy of your data. Q: Do you support Family billing?A: Yes (with reservations). This is a 'feature' (very outdated in our opinion) which is still supported by Stratford. The only reason is that we have many customers who demand it. We believe it is, on its face, a violation of the intent of the HIPAA regulations. If we could find any reference to this in the law or other FAQ on government sites, we would disable the 'feature'. If you are aware of any reference, please advise us now The simplest example that we can cite is the patient that does not want the spouse to know about his/her diagnosis. Family billing is an obvious (in our opinion) potential violation of this 'privacy issue'. We are well aware of the proponents that say both spouses must be aware of the provider's 'family billing' methods/policy and so they agree to it when they agree to see the provider and submit themselves to the billing practices of the provider. We believe all of our customers should re-examine this issue if they insist on 'family-billing'. The only advantage to this type of billing is that it possibly could save some stamps. Just one lawsuit or federal investigation will cost you more than all the stamps a practice could save in 100 years. We look forward to eliminating this 'feature' from our software. What about the child that reaches age 18? That child now has 'rights'. Who will separate this child from the 'family'? What about divorced parents? What about changes in custody? What about irate patient phone calls, forgetting about the potential liabilities? We think these issues carry potential penalties that cannot be handled by most billing offices and/or 'front offices'. The answer is obvious and is best supported by Stratford software: one patient has one account. The guarantor can change, the insurance subscriber/coverage can change, but that patient is a real person and that person has rights under the law. If the patient becomes 18 years old the privacy issues are confined to that one person's account. Stratford's software allows the patient/address, guarantor/address and insurance subscriber/address for any number of insurances to be different. We do not believe you can come up with a real-life situation that we cannot handle. Try us. We might give you a prize if you can describe a reasonable situation that the software cannot handle without 'tricks'. Q: Is your software Y2K ready?A: Yes. (The version that we sold in 1988 for dos was Y2K ready.) Q: I know it may be old-fashioned, but I want a nice, printed manual for my windows version like you had for the dos version.A: The manual is available electronically by pressing F1 anywhere in the program. To print, you can select from the main menu: #7, #2. This brings the manual up in 'PDF' format. This is a standard format that you can print on your printer, or you can take it to any professional print store. The file is located here: C:\Stratford\ssiwin\2\Help\stratfordmanual.pdf If you don't have Adobe Acrobat on your computer, get it free here: http://www.adobe.com An easy way to get a professionally printed manual at less than 1/2 the cost of getting it from Stratford like we did for the dos version is this: Go to http://www.kinkos.com Select 'online printing'. Then select 'file, print FedEx Kinko's'. There are 3 simple steps. Download a 'print driver' for your computer. Print the manual as above. Then select the format, binding, etc that you want. You can pick up the manual at the nearest kinko's store, sometimes the same day, or you can have it shipped via FedEx. Very nice. If you need 2 or 3 copies, this can't be beat. Also, you can try Alpha graphics and any other print store. If you need help, we can transmit the PDF file to Kinko's for you - but you must be a long-term support subscriber. For reading the manual, we recommend putting two displays on your computer. A video card with two connectors costs less than $50. You can put the manual on one display and leave the program running on the primary display. This will allow you to go through the tutorials easily. A second display is great for many things. You can put a browser, your email and other things on the secondary display while you do your usual work on the primary display. Think how proud you will be when you 'save a tree' and you become a 'good citizen of the earth'. We can print the manual for you: Click here Q: You say you are compliant with this and that. Do you guarantee that I can transmit to any payer and never get a rejected claim.A: No. You are responsible for creating a claim that is acceptable to the payer. Stratford plays a supporting role and nothing else. We want you to be successful with our software so you will recommend it to your friends. We don't claim to know how to do healthcare billing. That is what you do and you are responsible for that. If you have a claim that is rejected and you can't figure out why we will try to help you if you have prepaid support. That is the only guarantee you get from Stratford. You must have prepaid support in order to get help from Stratford. If you have not paid Stratford for support, you will be required to pay in advance before you will get any help from Stratford. We do not refund any payments that we receive for support. Support is labor and we are required by law to pay our employees. Also, our employees refuse to work unless they are paid. You probably have the same requirement where you work. If you don't, you probably should. If you are having so much fun that you don't need to be paid then you probably don't need help from Stratford. US law requires payers to accept an EDI format approved by HIPAA. If your payer will accept an approved format, then we should be able to help you (no promises though as we have no control over your payer). The only guarantee that you get is that we will try. In other words, if you do not know how to do healthcare billing then you need to first learn that before calling Stratford for help. The first question we will ask is something like "What is the problem?" For More Information Contact:
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