OpenEMR for everything

OpenEMR Development
1

Hi there.

Let me introduce myself: thebear424. I’m a new user, and I have a growing interest in software development.

I’ve used OpenEMR’s demo, and the re-write of this great EMR looks great. However, I want this EMR to not just benefit medical practices, but hospitals & outpatient care centers as well. You see, I’ve visited my father in the hospital, and saw the staff was using the GE Centricity EMR. Also, I go to a neurologist who practices with a hospital, and they also use Centricity. Recently, I’ve heard that Centricity was going to be phased out, so hospitals would have to go with McKesson’s EMR.

Right now, there are a very few open-source hospital EMR systems on the market, and all of them just do not fit the exact needs of each institution. What I want to see is a “scalable” OpenEMR that can be used in every medical practice and institution, such as medical practices (of course), hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, laboratories, outpatient care centers, imaging centers, freestanding birthing centers, and (ugh!) abortion clinics. With this new “re-write”, the software can be customized for the institution’s needs, and would be the world’s only “truly open-source and feature-rich” EMR system.

Features I would like to see would be:

  • “Modular” EMR system with modules designed for many care settings (hospital, pediatric hospital, outpatient surgery center, laboratory, imaging center, family practice, pediatric practice, OB/GYN practice, gynecologic practice, etc.).
  • “Drill-down” workflows, found in the (now discontinued) EncounterPRO EMR.
  • Better & seamless third-party lab & imaging center integration with an open-source ordering framework.
  • Ability to print wristbands & patient labels.
  • Feature-rich open-source lab & imaging information system.
  • Open-source framework for integration with medical devices (like Welch Allyn, Philips, GE, etc.).
  • Open-source form generation system for paperwork. Also, new freeware (but not open-source) app for iPad and Android that allows electronic signatures and forms-filling.
  • Open-source e-prescribing framework for seamless integration with e-prescribe providers (i.e. AllScripts, etc.).
  • Open-source billing framework for seamless integration with billing providers (i.e. Kaero, etc.). Also, over 5 superbill templates.
  • Seamless integration with Dragon Naturally Speaking (must be purchased and installed separately) for dictation.
  • Improved & customizable paper prescription templates, designed to meet state requirements for each state.

I would certainly like to see many of these features come to OpenEMR. With this re-write, OpenEMR would be the #1 EMR for hospitals & outpatient surgery centers.

UPDATE: It would be very helpful if medical professionals contribute to development of this new EMR.

I hope all of this happens. Cheers!

-thebear424

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Hi @thebear424, welcome to the community!

It’s interesting you mention this as just earlier today on our weekly community conference call we had a lengthy discussion about ways to implement OpenEMR in more inpatient settings. There are now several people working on various parts to make this happen.

I do want to note, “open source” and “exclusive” tend to not go very well together (just food for thought).

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Removed the word “exclusive” so that nobody gets the wrong idea.

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Hi @thebear424,

Welcome to our community. It’s great to see your ideas listed out in an organized and positive way.

As Robert said, the community is starting to focus on inpatient features as of recently. However, we can use “more hands”. While everything you listed should be the goal (outside of the freeware app, I think there are other options there), we are taking it piece by piece to meet the bigger needs of our inpatient users.

For example, @andremillet is interested in using OpenEMR at his hospital so we have picked 3 targetted inpatient features to implement to meet his needs. You can read more about this here: Units Support

Please consider contributing to this very important project. I’m not sure what your background is in software development, but there are other roles that need to be filled, so to speak.

Thanks,

Matthew Vita
www.matthewvita.com

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@thebear424 barely know you but already love you

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I made an inpatient module for OpenEMR. I plan to sell a few ones before committing it to the free code project. Ask me for credentials to try it.
I listened to the suggestions in your posting. They happened to be similar to the customer’s needs.

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Hi
Finally an inpatient module…patience is a skill.
Yao Ayivor here from South Africa…Can I have your credentials please…:grin: “ask me for credentials to try it” my email is yamtanam@gmail.com Id like to test drive it…and share if we close the hospital deal.

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Hi so its 2019 and from your 2017 wish list how complete is the list in %…I see this as a game changer for Africa…Private Doctors are the hospital so we need (SECURITY, VPN, MFA, ERP, EHR, MAR, DICOM, X12/API, QLIK DASHBOARDS with current UI/BOOTSRAP)