aterad wrote on Saturday, January 02, 2016:
Hello, with regards to this particular post https://sourceforge.net/p/openemr/discussion/202505/thread/c0f61910/ pls what is the difference between a user and a provider in openemr
aethelwulffe wrote on Saturday, January 02, 2016:
A user has a log-in. A provider is a user that has the “provider” checkbox in the user admin settings checked. That gives them a schedule on the calendar.
There are more levels of this needed that the system does not provide. Most of these distinctions come about by making modifications to the newpatient/encounter form to reflect who actually did the note vs. who was listed as the billing provider (like for mid-level providers and interns). This also requires additional bits like adding a spot for the mid-level provider on the fee sheet and all kinds of other crazy additions that I could discuss with you at length…provided you outline what you are really trying to achieve (end goal).
A referring provider in vanilla openemr might be a demographic field (a patient_data table column) and may be a listing on the address book (who is added to the “users” table even though they are not really a user and have no log-in). This is all due to the fact that openEMR was developed out of a scheduling program and no-one ever abstracted users from lists of, well, anything else. Like I said, there is a lot of history and a lot of work-arounds involved in everything, but in the end getting the RESULT of what you want is generally achievable by outlining your end goals and describing them; and posting that here for advice on obtaining a schema that will suit your needs.