MS Health Software: From VFP Application to Servoy Solution

Industry: Behavioral Healthcare and Social Services Management

MS Health Software is a provider of behavioral healthcare and social services management solutions. CMHCi is a comprehensive, integrated web-based application which provides a complete electronic client record (such as demographic information, billing, accounts receivable, planning, etc.), giving social services providers and agencies the benefits and flexibility of a paperless organization.

CI Home



By using Servoy, MS Health Software was able to design a much more friendly, user-configurable interface. The software is more inviting and less intimidating to new users -- yet retains the rich feature set and functionality required by advanced users.

CI Design/Integration



Although MS Health software can be run in a web browser, the application is not restricted to the flat, modal design of many web applications. The company chose to offer a desktop application-like interface with coordinated but independent multiple windows, that easily integrates with open-source reporting and graphing software, as the dashboard illustrates.

Download the MS Health Software Success Story in PDF format.
Listen to ServoyCast episode: VFP to Servoy Migration with Michael Sedita.

The Problem:
MS Health Software developed and marketed a LAN application based on VFP, VFP 5 and finally VFP 7-9. As time progressed, however, the company recognized that Visual FoxPro was perceived as old technology; and lacked needed features such as data integrity, security, and database server standardization. They needed to update the functionality of the product, make it available to run over the Internet, and offer the application in a hosted environment as well. Rumors of Visual FoxPro’s demise pushed MS Health Software to search for the next successful platform.

The Solution:
MS Health Software’s search for a platform evolved around a four-point checklist: they were looking for a productive, internet-centric and data-centric environment that was also cost effective.

They researched other platforms such as .NET, Magic, Ruby and ColdFusion, but these platforms were all too complicated. The primary issue was productivity. MS Health looked for a platform with the same level of productivity as Visual FoxPro, with integrated data handling capabilities.

The Result:
Michael Sedita, owner and CEO of MS Health Software, looked for several years for a development environment that offered the productivity of VFP. By chance, he received a cold call from Servoy sales. MS Health Software decided to get on board with Servoy. After a few trainings, having Servoy engineers on site, and studying Servoy documentation and handbooks, they started developing on their own. The company developed a Servoy solution to replace the old FoxPro app, using Servoy’s multi-tier architecture, that runs on both the Smart and Web client. Servoy, third-party plug-ins and beans enabled their developers to extend the feature set without going outside of the Servoy development environment. MS health is integrating their application with accounting software and, because the application has a medical records component, they are using Java to integrate CMHCi with a drug interaction and e-prescribing system.

MS Health started development in early 2008 (version 3.5) and rolled out the first on-premise go-live version in September 2009 (version 4). Their first SAAS go-live version was deployed in October 2010 (version 5).

Currently, the company offers the new solution for on-premise installation; and hosted, in a single-tenant and multi-tenant environment.

Key Benefits
  • Provides a complete electronic medical record.
  • Internet and data centric environment.
  • Offers the benefits and flexibility of a paperless organization.
  • Includes data integrity, security and database server standardization.

CMHC 5 - VFP Product
- Initial License: $25,000
- Implementation Fee: $10,000
- Annual Support: $7,500
- 5 Year Income: $60,000
- Each Additional Year: $7,500

CMHCi - Servoy Product (hosted)
- Implementation Fee: $10,000
- Monthly Subscription: $2,175
- Hosting Cost: $200/mo
- Servoy licenses: $7,825 + $1,975 ea yr.
- 5 Year Income: $112,775
- Each Additional Year: $21,725

"As a small ISV, the most important measure of development tools to us is productivity. Servoy is the only development environment we found that offers the leverage we were used to in VFP."
-- Michael Sedita, CEO MS Health Software