OpenEMR has joined with industry leading Amazon Web Services to implement and deliver OpenEMR Cloud to healthcare provider practices and institutions throughout the world
Setup Guide CloudFormation Template
OpenEMR Cloud Full Stack, a cloud service version of OpenEMR - the most popular open source electronic health record (EHR) and medical practice management solution, is available for the 5.0.0.5 release of OpenEMR. OpenEMR has joined with industry leading Amazon Web Services (AWS) to implement and deliver OpenEMR Cloud to healthcare provider practices and institutions throughout the world. In a few simple steps, healthcare providers can leverage the benefits of OpenEMR and AWS by deploying OpenEMR Cloud Full Stack.
Cloud technologies have become a staple in technology and business over the past decade, and the healthcare industry is no exception. As a web platform, OpenEMR makes a seamless transition to the cloud, enabling many benefits including:
Automatic Scaling of Computational Resources
Computational resources such as servers, memory, bandwidth, and storage automatically scale based on patient load and provider demand. During peak demand, computational resources are automatically dedicated for optimal delivery of healthcare by OpenEMR Cloud Full Stack. During non-peak hours, computational resources are automatically relaxed, resulting in minimized costs.
Cutting-edge Information Security
Superior information security including physical, network, and software security is designed into OpenEMR and AWS, offloading significant privacy and security demands on healthcare providers. OpenEMR Cloud Full Stack is fully compliant with HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules.
Zero On-Site Hardware and Software
OpenEMR Cloud Full Stack runs hardware and software provided by OpenEMR and Amazon Web Services; no on-site software, servers nor related equipment are required.
Easy Deployment
With only a few simple steps including specification of OpenEMR Cloud Full Stack’s CloudFormation template, healthcare providers “spin up” their own full stack instance of OpenEMR in the cloud. Customizations are tested and deployed with ease with OpenEMR Cloud’s continuous deployment model.
Robust Backup and Recovery Solutions
Automated backups, disaster recovery, and system redundancy are standard in OpenEMR Cloud Full Stack, fine tuned for clinic and institutional needs.
Before OpenEMR Cloud, OpenEMR users deployed software on physical servers or contracted a professional vendor to provide private cloud or managed on-site solutions. “OpenEMR Cloud provides a modern option for healthcare providers to leverage the cloud on their own terms, with limited maintenance burden and low cost”, says Matthew Vita, an OpenEMR Administrator.
“OpenEMR is a natural fit for the cloud”, notes Dr. Andre Millet, Chief Medical Officer of OEMR. “With OpenEMR Cloud, establishing a hospital EHR takes only a few simple steps. We are reducing the distance between clinician and technology, providing tools that diminish repetitive tasks and bureaucratic procedures, allowing more time for providers to excel at what they do best”, says Millet. He believes lowering barriers for EHR deployment encourages better utilization, especially in modern areas of healthcare such as telemedicine, practice analytics and clinical intelligence. During implementation testing, Millet was impressed with the ease of setup and adaption of OpenEMR functionality through source code changes instantly reflected in OpenEMR Cloud instances.
OpenEMR Cloud simplifies OpenEMR management and provides peace of mind. “An on-premise EHR represents unpredictable, front-loaded capital expenditures. Initial server purchase and deployment, on-going warranties, parts replacement, and physical security, are compounded by often-overlooked backup and restore protocols”, says Asher Densmore-Lynn, an OpenEMR contributor and cloud architect. The financial benefit of OpenEMR Cloud is significant, transforming capital expenditures into lower equivalent operating expense. Operating expense is further reduced as computational resources are matched to time-varying workloads." He adds that clinics and institutions achieve additional savings through reduction of in-house expertise in IT architecture, vendor management, systems setup, disaster recovery, and hardware scaling. “All of these tasks become more manageable, predictable, and testable with OpenEMR Cloud”, Densmore-Lynn notes.
“We want to ensure that cost is reasonable and proportional to an institution’s EHR utilization”, notes Daniel Ehrlich, an OpenEMR contributor and cloud solutions engineer. He notes that lower capital and operating expense for clinics and institutions are a differentiating feature of OpenEMR Cloud.
OpenEMR Cloud is designed for 1-click deployment by provider or institution staff. OpenEMR software is configurable with an array of clinical options, either by IT staff or certified, professional support vendors. OpenEMR’s software model (GNU Public License) has fostered a vast array of clinical capabilities including a modern user interface. Custom features are easily developed and implemented to meet the needs and demands of practices and institutions.
OpenEMR Full Stack is 100% HIPAA compliant for covered entities, requiring only a few extra clicks during deployment. Covered entities are assured of compliance by OpenEMR’s federally certified software, HIPAA compliant cloud services, and AWS’s Business Associate services.
The OpenEMR Community’s choice of industry leading AWS is a testament to AWS leadership in cloud technology and total cost of application ownership. To get started with OpenEMR Cloud Full stack, please visit its Setup Guide.
About OpenEMR
OpenEMR supports a broad feature set of patient demographics, records, appointments, prescriptions, billing, reports, clinical decision support, lab integration, analytics and clinical intelligence. For United States providers, OpenEMR Cloud is designed for HIPAA & HITECH compliance. AWS performs the HIPAA Business Associate role for healthcare providers using OpenEMR Cloud.
Downloaded more than 6,000 times per month, the OpenEMR user base is estimated to be greater that 100,000 medical providers serving more than 200 million patients. OpenEMR is translated into 33 languages and used by facilities in more than 100 countries. A leading operator of the open-source software business model, OpenEMR has changed the world for the better. For more information please visit the OpenEMR website.