Previous RALS Users
Good morning,
My institution uses RALS plus and has been a RALS user for many years & has been very happy. However in an effort to cut costs, I have been tasked with trying to find a less expensive middleware. I would like to know from any of you that were RALS users and switched to another vendor:
- What middleware are you using now and are you satisfied with it or are you regretting having switched?
- Do you feel it meets your needs as well as RALS? Better ? Worse?
- Is data management more time consuming or better?
- Do you have multiple POCT platforms being managed by it?
- Do you feel your cyber security is as tight as it was with RALS?
- What middleware do you recommend?
Any information you are willing to share would be helpful and much appreciated.
Thanks,
Dianne
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We were RALS and switched to Telcor. At the time, one of the big reasons for the switch was the way that RALS did their contracting and billing. I wanted a more comprehensive contract including everything, and one cost that covered everything instead of the "nickel and diming" that RALS was doing at the time. I also had some issues with the RALS rep changing every year. I do believe that RALS has made some changes in their contracting, so that might be a non-issue at this time.
The other reason was that Telcor was more agile in having more devices available, and they can build new drivers within 3 months. For our POCT program, that was very important, but might not be as important to those who have a more stable program with fewer changes and new devices (do those exist?!).
There are things to consider besides cost--when we went to Telcor we had to purchase cobas IT 1000 from Roche to manage our Inform II glucose meters. This was something I wasn't aware of before deciding on Telcor. It wouldn't have changed our decision, but is something to consider. What devices do you have, how do they connect to RALS now, and how would that change with another vendor? We also have less device management with Hemochron and Hemocue with Telcor, but we've been able to implement devices with Telcor that RALS does not have available (Sysmex XP300 and XN550).
I would make sure that cost is not the only, or even most important, consideration. Choosing something that is inexpensive is not wise if it doesn't meet your needs, makes things harder for you to manage day-to-day work, or needs additional software or add-ins at additional cost.
We are happy with our decision, and wouldn't change it, although there are things we miss with RALS. The reports aren't as easy or intuitive. Security is equal to RALS, I feel. We are happy with Telcor support and assistance. We have 2 hospital systems on Telcor, with 11 hospitals, multiple clinics, 2 ED UCs and over 600 individual devices, including i-STAT, GEM 5000, Hemochron, Hemacue, DCA, Sofia, Liat, Triage, Piccolo, Clinitek, Sysmex XN550--and more to come!
Happy to talk in person if you have questions. kathleen.david@tricore.org