I am looking to get OpenEMR up quickly, but would also like the platform to remain usable long term.
Can someone please recommend a system configuration? CPU, Mem, Disk, … Server side Recommendation?
I prefer Windows (more experience with), but am open if it isn’t recommended.
Is this product equally supported on Windows or just on there to pick up more users?
Is any OS better or worse?
What is the main Development platform or is it equal?
I know I can read through to get some info, but since things change every few months, I am looking to get a currently somewhat best (at least recommended) system.
I am using the attached $600 computer ( http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0340208) as my server and the xampp package now upgraded to version 4.0. I am backing up twice daily to usb hard drives using the posted script commands, taking one offsite daily and putting it on my home computer for after hours access, and once weekly or more backing up to qwest online encrypted backup which is part of my DSL account. Make sure to run the xampp security configuration. I am running six windows 7 workstations which has worked very well, and so far (about 8 months) has been very stable. See my previous post on windows 7 IPV6. Turn that off on your server and windows 7 is such an upgrade over windows xp. I am still undecided on IE vs firefox, but they both work pretty well. I am sending x12 billing to OfficeAlly which also has worked well. I just made my first layout based form which is so much easier than trying to learn PHP. I also used the layout section to align the demographics area and history area to match how I was used to doing things, and filled in a fee schedule list to make a superbill like I had been using before. I am dictating notes into the voice dictation form with dragon preferred version 10 and cutting and pasting in history and problem lists. If you have a lot of old paper charts to scan in, I have over 14GB of PDF’s at this point and a long ways to go, I have found it better to just place them in a seperate shared file alphabetically on my network rather than importing them. That allows easier access to add to individual charts and keeps openemr backup files smaller. So there is an all windows solution that was quite economical for a small primary care office. I am very appreciative to this project as I am very independent and love the ability to mold this to how I like to do things only limited by a learning curve instead of a software company. I do not think most of us are going to see a dime of stimulus money for meaningful use, any more than I think Medicare is going to give me a big raise for being a PCP. The carrot is firmly attached to the end of the stick and the public thinks we are all overpaid anyway, which is certainly not true for PCP’s who are barely holding on as I see it. But I do think that going to this kind of system can help make me a better doctor and benefit my patients by making information eventually more accessible.
hey,
If flexible on OS, I’d rec Ubuntu Server. There’s also a ubuntu installation package, which makes installation and upgrade easy. Most of the developers use linux, so the windows features generally will lag a bit behind and bugs/security in windows takes longer to fix. That being said,though, best to choose an OS that you’re comfortable with; as cverk discusses, important to think about backups and security with whatever OS you choose.
-brady
Thanks. This may be a dumb question, but do I just pick encryption during the Ubuntu install to handle the requirement for data at rest? I tried to follow the threads on encryption, but I couldn’t find a clear answer. Thanks.
Encryption for data at rest is not a requirement, but if you think you want it I would create a partition using TrueCrypt File system tools. Secured access to the server/server room is required (by HIPAA), Access to the data should be over SSL or in a VPN if you are not using (exclusively) a hardwired network.
-Tony