Computerized medical records have a number of clinical benefits, however recent proprietary systems are expensive, making it difficult for some clinicians. A cost-effective alternative is the use of OpenEMR. OpenEMR is a free, open source, practice management, electronic medical record, prescription writing, and medical billing application. Get multi-language support, free updates, free online support, insurance tracking, voice recognition, integration with external general ledger program SQL-Ledger, and built-in scheduler. Its scheduling supports multiple facilities and notifies patients for appointments via email and sms. It has a compact and flexible appointment calendar, features include finding open appointment slots, categories for appointment types, colors associated with appointment types, repeat appointments, and the ability to restrict appointments based on type. Useful for tracking patient demographics including primary information (name, DOB, gender, and ID), marital status, patient and patient employer contact information, primary provider, HIPAA information, and language and ethnicity. Prescriptions are written, faxed or emailed and drugs search online. Medical Billing has a flexible coding system that includes CPT, HCPCS and ICD codes and the ability to add others as well as support for electronic billing to clearinghouses, support for paper claims, medical claims management interface, claim tracking interface, insurance, accounts receivable interface and EOB entry interface. OpenEMR supports the use of multiple languages within the same clinic. Currently supports English (US), English (Indian), Dutch, Greek, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (European), Spanish, and Swedish. Any language can be added and translated in a collaborative Google Docs spreadsheet maintained by the OpenEMR community. It also supports fine-grained access controls per user, and with a security certificate installed, it can be accessed from any web browser. It’s also easy to customize and install.
It is one of the most multifaceted electronic medical records, operating on Unix-like systems (Linux, UNIX, and BSD systems), Microsoft systems, Mac OS X, and other platforms. Its members are made up of software developers, security specialists, as well as doctors and others with extensive medical and billing knowledge. It is released under the GNU General Public License. With its source code available to the general public, it is free to view, download, use, and modify. There are currently seven companies that have been supporting OpenEMR by donating software under this license. Some of its guiding principles include keeping OpenEMR 100% free software under the GNU GPL; maintain a spirit of openness, friendliness, and cooperation; give back to the free software community; document changes and improvements; don’t hide problems; do not discriminate against individuals or groups, subject to their focus on the medical field and encourage the use of OpenEMR in other languages; and avoiding unnecessary complexity, to include software design, installation, maintenance, and usability. OpenEMR has the widest user support and developer support. It currently has practitioners in the United States, Puerto Rico, Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Israel, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Indonesia, Bermuda, Armenia, and Kenya. Its clients range from two-person practices to large multi-vendor clinics. These clinics have everything you need, bringing secure, reliable and affordable electronic medical records to your practice. Let’s take this opportunity to get the software and service we need without the cost of breaking the bank.