I’ve been looking around researching how to upgrade my system to accommodate the new HCFA forms and ICD10 diagnosis codes. In so doing I’ve discovered an excellent thread by Kevin Yeh (https://sourceforge.net/p/openemr/code/ci/a58b1fd688eacf57ec66a0801a0e8123d9ca1c46/) seemingly documenting how to do this. I haven’t looked into the code too much, but I presume that I can achieve my goals simply by editing my openemr files until they look like those referenced by the thread. That, however, prompts a bigger question (I’m not really familiar with collaborative development, github and the like)…
How, when and where do these changes make it into the downloadable version of OpenEMR? I’ve looked (last week) into the latest development version of the program and the changes don’t seem to appear in the code there, nor are they in my patched 4.1.2(3) version. Is there a formal way by which these changes are disseminated or does one simply have to cruise the forum for snippets of gossip relating to changes in which one might be interested? Inquiring minds want to know…
Hmmm… I might have figured this out. I was once again looking the new code I downloaded today and it now appears that the HCFA update stuff is in there (I don’t think it was the last time I looked, which was probably about 14 days ago - but I thought I noted somewhere that it had been updated on or about 1/2/14). I updated my files in the appropriate webserver folders and, voila, I now have new options as described on my global settings page. Moreover, it looks like I’ll probably need some updates to my tables (as suggested by the re-written database.sql file). I presume that the usual “patch” process and/or (re)installation of the mainstream 4.1.3 release (when it comes out) would ultimately have taken care of this. Finally, I presume that changes such as these would be accompanied by the usual fanfare so that we’d all be aware of this when it was ready for human consumption. Am I right? Amazing. You guys are really good. This has been a very gratifying project.
On a separate note, as requested in another thread, I’d be willing to document my database conversion (from Physican Office Manager to OpenEMR) journey in a wiki. My version of POM is somewhat outdated however, so the exact process would probably not be of much help to many, but the principles should generally apply across the board. If so, the rationale behind my decisions and the SQL code used to implement them could be quite handy. I have no idea, however, how to set up or contribute to such. Any pointers in the right direction?
Here is the link for the CMS 1500 update. I would guess that Kevin will have a patch well before the April 1st deadline. I think CVerk, who has used OpenEMR for the past 3 years, posted that he has yet to resort to paper claims. He sends all claims electronically and if memory serves, it has costed him nothing for the service.
