Here is a 30,000 foot view of our open source strategy and the software packages we use. We are making no claim that this is the best way to go or the only way to go. The software packages we chose are based on a number of factors including:
- features – this is an obvious one. The software needs to have the features necessary to do the job we are attempting to accomplish
- interoperability – i.e. open and documented API, HL7 interface, etc
- community support – the activity in a community is a factor in how long the software will endure and how likely it is that you can find somebody when something goes really wrong. We will not use a piece of software if we can’t find a strong partner to help support us.
- hosting – because we are a medical support entity, we have to abide by very strict guidelines / laws. i.e. HIPAA, state laws regarding information security, etc. If the software is hosted off-site we need to have a business associate agreement (BAA) in place. Most general software companies do not have this ability or inclination which is why we are forced to host a lot of our software
- access to data – either through the API but preferably via direct access to the database. We strive to give the organization the most appropriate data at the right time, regardless of where that data resides.
Here is a diagram of our V1.0
The central hub of our platform is the EMR, and we have chosen OpenEMR. We are in the process of moving away from a closed, licensed EMR to OpenEMR and have chosen Williams Medical Technologies to assist us in implementation and support. In our implementation, OpenEMR will be the master database and will be where most of our employees reside on a daily / hourly basis. I am detailing our OpenEMR implementation in another post. Is OpenEMR as fully featured as its pay-for-play competitors, not really; however I have found that most doctors do not take advantage of most of the time-saving features, don’t take the time to set up the time-saving features AND many of the time-saving features don’t work very well or as expected (buggy).
I won’t go into every piece of software at this time but will cover the highlights:
- Medisoft – patient accounting (billing and collection) software. This is not open source software however the price is reasonable and it has been around a long time – we have used it for a long time. Unfortunately, this is based on windows and doesn’t have a web interface.
- Idempiere – open source ERP (enterprise resource planning). We use this software as the glue that holds many of the other parts together. It is our swiss army knife.
- Mautic – open source marketing automation (MA). We are not entirely on this platform yet but are working on implementation. This will enable us to do things as simple as appointment reminders via text, email, etc but will also enable us to selectively target patient communication based on diagnosis, etc.
- WordPress – open source web content management. There are SO many plug-ins to wordpress and there is so much community support. We use our webpage to attract new patients, schedule new patients through the Acuity Scheduling plug-in, allow patients to pay their bills and get general information regarding our company
I believe this combination will allow us to revolutionize how we interact with our patient base. Imagine if you asked your current EMR vendor to change new patient workflow. The response will likely be to put it on some roadmap that you have no control over or visibility into. This combination of software will allow you to completely define the patient experience from the moment they sign up for an appointment to the time they receive lab results. This is also a substantially cheaper option – improving our financial viability. Lets watch together and see how it works!!
