Hello
I am interested in openemr and especially the group therapy module. I understand this was released in version 5.0.1.
I am trying to find a sample of the module in action?
I have tried the demo site and couldn’t find the module to have a look at it.
Does anyone know who developed the module?
Thanks
James
hi @J_D ,
Here’s the global to turn on:
https://www.open-emr.org/wiki/index.php/Administration_Globals#Enable_Group_Therapy
After you turn it on, then log out/in openemr and then you’ll see a Groups entry in the menu. It’s pretty neat and hopefully intuitive to use.
Matrix developed the module.
-brady
Hello Brady
Thank you for getting back to me.
I enabled group therapy via the admin account on the demo and then logged in under physician again.
It is working and I will spend a couple of hours today trying it out
As a background
I am a physiotherapist and 75% of my work is in groups. I have searched the world (literally) looking for a solution to make group documentation easy. To date I haven’t found one and so I have written my own in excel (using only vlookup, hlookup, index, match & referencing cells to the treatment protocol) which allows me to document a group note in 20-30 minutes for 10people whilst retaining the ability to individualise each component! The issue I have is that I need to make this excel solution sustainable and ideally for it to be integrated into a commercial/robust EMR.
One of the issues is the data validation requirements commercial EMR’s must have.
There is a lot of physiotherapy/physical therapy completed in group settings from cardiac rehab, pulmonary rehab, we do Parkinsons rehab, while a lot of inpatient orthopaedics/medical/surgical is protocol based and which in my opinion would benefit from a group note option (with ability to individualise the patients notes).
We would love to expand our business into providing more group classes but we are limited by documentation methods. Hence why I asked who the group note developer was as they may be able to help us!
Thanks
James
Hi @J_D ,
That group module is really neat/innovative on the front end and back end. They basically are treating group(s) like patient(s), which allowed them to do all of that. Matrix is the group (they have been working with the OpenEMR community for several years on main project for Israel dept of health and have contributed lots of great stuff) and I’ll flag them on this thread.
-brady
Hi @J_D, My name is Sharon Cohen. I’m the development team leader in Matrix that is in charge of this project. Contact me directly we will be very happy to assist you. sharonco@matrix.co.il
Thank you Brady for the information and guidance
Sharon from Matrix has commented below so I will be able to get more information!
Thanks again
James
Hello Sharon
Thank you for getting in contact. I will email you shortly!
James
Not the most technologically adept here and trying to wade through this. I’ve been using OpenEMR for documenting psychotherapy and even managed to create my own forms through the regular user interface in the program (having a text box appear only when other is selected from a drop down is quite the accomplishment for me!)
I am trying out this group module and I have set up a group and participants however it appears I still have to go to each participant and individually document? Is there no way to generate a note or billing for the entire group?
No. there isn’t such a feature, I can recommend you to develop a new form for group appointments that generate billing for every participant.
The billing is the least important aspect of this for me. What exactly is the group module supposed to do if not create documentation for each participant?
It extends the appointments and events mechanism to work with an instance of a group and not specific patients, Its also create an event for each participant has arrived at a meeting (using group attendance form)
Hi Sharon-
I’ve taken the liberty of composing some user docs of the group module for the OpenEMR wiki.
It’s located at:
https://www.open-emr.org/wiki/index.php/HOWTO_Setup_and_Use_OpenEMR_Groups_Module
Would you please take a look and see if I missed anything that needs correction?
Thanks- Harley
Hi David-
It actually does, after a fashion. You can print out the Encounter report (Reports / Visits / Encounters) and obtain a list of all encounters in a date range for a provider. The report has a column for ‘Encounter’ notes which in the Groups module, can hold comments pertaining to each individual pt’s group activities.
You can check out the link I provided Sharon Cohen to review:
https://www.open-emr.org/wiki/index.php/HOWTO_Setup_and_Use_OpenEMR_Groups_Module
It is not their official docs but everything I wrote works as described.
But can you make a blanketed main note for all participants? example:
The group discussed cognitive behavioral thinking and how it impacts our decision making.
Can you explain what you mean by “I can recommend you to develop a new form for group appointments that generate billing for every participant”, Amiel?
