Using OpenEMR in South Africa

davidmcc4 wrote on Monday, July 19, 2010:

Hi

I am looking at OpenEMR with a view to replacing a DOS database (build in 1994) used by a Doctor who caters for low income patents.

I have a system analysis and design background but don’t have a lot of programming experience. In order to adapt the system to suit South African conditions a few changes would have to be made. The changes seem to be mostly cosmetic, namely Monetary symbols and references to deferent ID numbers used for record purposes.

I have read through the user community forum to see if there have been other users with a similar problem. I have also used Google to see if I could find if there are other users in South Africa. I have drawn a blank and was hoping that someone could give me some pointers

Regards

David 

juggernautsei wrote on Sunday, September 26, 2010:

Hi David,

I would like to help you with the questions  you ask. Could you please contact me at sgaddis(at)jse.net? I have a few questions that I would like to ask you.

Sherwin
www.openmedpractice.com

davidmcc4 wrote on Monday, September 27, 2010:

Hello Sherwin

Thank you for your response. I did change my request to the HELP forum and was given some very good advice by bradymiller  and Visolve. Things are moving a bit mere slowly than I had hoped for as I am waiting for input from the Doctor who will be using the system

I am not sure if I have your e-mail correct but I will try and send this same message there.

Regards David

klassy wrote on Saturday, November 20, 2010:

Hi
I’m a doctor in namibia. i discovered EMR sometime back and have started using it in my practice. however i’m not using it to its fullest potential cos i have zero programming experience!
how can we help each other?

klassy wrote on Saturday, November 20, 2010:

@shapen, failing to reply to your msg so i’ll post it here! Hi

thanks for your quick response!

I have a small practice! 1 doctor!

and i’m doing everything myself, just dont want to use mass like everyone else.

i’m running openemr 3.2.0 off my laptop macbook pro 13 " Intel Core 2 Duo  Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz RAM 2G. so this runs as the server.
i create a LAN from the same laptop with apple’s built in airport to connect with the iMac 21" more or less same specs.
OS X 10.6.3 snow leopard.

i have tried to work with local programmers but i can tell you, i know a lot more than these guys!

what i have problems with is

1. how to enter the namibian claim codes ( instead of the built in cpt4 / hpcsp ) there is a huge book with NAMAF tariffs, i have it on pdf, is it not possible link the file somehow to emr without having to enter evrything one by one.
2.  diagnosis codes. i want to use icd10. can’t i download the whole list to a local hard drive and not have to get it online?  internet here not always reliable
3. same with the drugs - and how to incorporate an inhouse pharmacy? to dispense from the practice and still work it into the super billing for medical aid claims.
4. and how to put logos on the various printable documents off emr

on another note, what are your charges for hosting a remote server for me? do you have a drug list and pricing? regular updates? what do you need for the edi to our local health administrators?

i actually had intentions to do the same here in namibia but like i said, programmers are hard to come by, but it is a brilliant business idea cos almost all the doctors are on mass.

thanks!

kind regards

klassy wrote on Saturday, November 20, 2010:

oh
and how do i turn off  secondary and tertiary insurance providers?

visolveemr wrote on Wednesday, November 24, 2010:

Hi,

To answer your last question, in OpenEMR we don’t have any option to eliminate secondary and tertiary insurance providers alone.  But when you set $GLOBALS to true in interface/globals.php, the insurance section(also some other items) will get completely eliminated from patient demographics.

Thanks
ViCarePlus Team,
www.vicareplus.com
services@vicareplus.com

klassy wrote on Friday, December 10, 2010:

Hi all!

am having serious problems with the insurance data thing…is it only on Ver 3.2 where you cant save patient data without filling in the entire insurance info?
i was on 3.0.0.1 and everything worked just fine! now im failing to save new patients after the upgrade!

bradymiller wrote on Saturday, December 11, 2010:

hey,
Insurance information is not required. Guessing an issue with your upgrade.
What happens when you try to save the patient without all insurance info provided?
Anything showing up in your php log?
How did you upgrade?
-brady

klassy wrote on Saturday, December 11, 2010:

Thanks for replying.
I can enter all the patient data but when I get to insurance data the save patient demographics just doesn’t work! I don’t know if I have to enter data in all the red areas!
I entered the relevant info in 3.0.0.1 and left out the rest but I could save without a hassle.
I updated by installing 3.2 in a new machine and moved the database from the old installation.
I need to have at least primary insurance data saved for each patient. Is there a php file where I can switch the requirements from required to optional?

bradymiller wrote on Saturday, December 11, 2010:

hey,
This should not be the default behavior(I don’t even think there is a setting that will make insurance required, so leads me to believe something is wrong with your upgrade). When you upgraded, did you upgrade the database via the sql_upgrade.php script?
Here’s instructions for upgrading:
http://www.openmedsoftware.org/wiki/OpenEMR_Upgrade_Guides
-brady

klassy wrote on Saturday, December 11, 2010:

I actually did a fresh install on a new computer. Then I followed the instructions on the wiki site. I used the php upgrade after copying the database var folder to the new xampp installation. Everything updated successfully  
But I do recall having that problem with 3.2 even before I upgraded

klassy wrote on Saturday, December 11, 2010:

Hi Brady!

i’m feeling real dumb right now! tried everything! lets forget all the stuff i’ve done before

Here’s what i have now……

i’m started everything from scratch!

i have a macBook Pro running OEMR 3.0.0.1. everything is working ok.

i need to move all my data from this macbook pro to an iMac that will work as a dedicated server.

Please give me a step by step guide how i could do that AND update the EMR version on the iMac to 3.2.

i have downloaded the 3.2 patch zip file.

bradymiller wrote on Monday, December 13, 2010:

hi,

I don’t know how to upgrade the Mac, but should be similar to linux upgrade instructions here :
http://www.openmedsoftware.org/wiki/Linux_Upgrade_3.1.0_to_3.2.0

When you try to Save Demographics (where it is unsuccessful), look in following error logs:
1) php error log (very important to look at this when have problems)
2) browser error log  (Firefox in Tools->Error Log which shows javascript errors)

-brady

klassy wrote on Monday, December 13, 2010:

Hi,
i’m not getting any errors at all,
moving the database and upgrade worked perfectly , but when i click on Save Demographics nothing happens. like it’s a broken link.
where do i find the php error log?
i’m using safari

i’m thinking of reverting back to 3.0.0.1 and wait until 4.0 comes out next year then i’ll try again

klassy wrote on Monday, December 13, 2010:

found a file called error log…
this is what i got from it

  Init: Session Cache is not configured
  Digest: generating secret for digest authentication …
  Digest: done
  Apache/2.2.11 (Unix) DAV/2 mod_ssl/2.2.11 OpenSSL/0.9.7l PHP/5.2.9 mod_perl/2.0.4 Perl/v5.10.0 configured - resuming normal operations

shapen wrote on Monday, December 13, 2010:

I can enter all the patient data but when I get to insurance data the save patient demographics just doesn’t work! I don’t know if I have to enter data in all the red areas!

make sure the SS (id number) is the same as patient or the write id from the insurnce holder IN insurance from the patient  SS + make sure under _choices _ you select  a provider (you) hope this helps

just  select Choices then provider under dem

klassy wrote on Monday, December 13, 2010:

Thanks a lot guys!
i JUST GAVE UP!
tried everything and it just wont work!
so i downgraded back to 3.0.0.1  will wait for oemr 4 release next year
:frowning: