OpenEMR Wiki Home Page

The OpenEMR Documentation Wiki

Overview of OpenEMR

OpenEMR is a Free and Open Source electronic health records and medical practice management application. It is ONC Complete Ambulatory EHR Certified and it features fully integrated electronic health records, practice management, scheduling, electronic billing, internationalization, free support, a vibrant community, and a whole lot more. It can run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and many other platforms.

• Official OpenEMR Website
• Official OpenEMR Twitter Feed
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
• OpenEMR Features
• OpenEMR Reviews (on Sourceforge)
• Have a question to ask?

• Ask at the Official OpenEMR Forums.
• Or try our IRC channel at #openemr

Complete Ambulatory EHR Certification

This Complete EHR is 2011/2012 compliant and has been certified by an ONC-ATCB in accordance with the applicable certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This certification does not represent an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or guarantee the receipt of incentive payments.

• Information on how eligible provider should register can be found here:

• http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/20_RegistrationandAttestation.asp

• After being tested in the ICSA Labs ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 EHR Certification Program, OpenEMR 4.1 attained Complete Ambulatory EHR Certification on August 19th, 2011, satisfying the requirements for the following criteria per the ONC Approved Test Procedures v1.1:

• Certified List of Features That OpenEMR Successfully Passed to Obtain Certification

• See this page for more details:

• OpenEMR 4.1 ONC Complete Ambulatory EHR Certification

Commercial and Professional Support

The OpenEMR project has a large number of vendors and individuals who offer their services supporting, installing, hosting and customizing OpenEMR.

Commercial Help: Professional OpenEMR installation and support

Demos

Official Demos

• OpenEMR Version 4.1.0 Demo -- This demo is the current stable release of OpenEMR.
• OpenEMR Version 4.0.0 Demo -- This demo is the previous stable release of OpenEMR.

Development Demos

• OpenEMR Version 4.1.1 Development Demo -- This demo is of the newest development version of OpenEMR, and may contain features known not to work yet.
• OpenEMR Version 4.1.0 Development Demo -- This demo is of the current stable release of OpenEMR with latest patch applied (there is no sample data).
• OpenEMR Version 4.0.0 Development Demo -- This demo is of the previous stable release of OpenEMR with latest patch applied (there is no sample data).

Downloads

• OpenEMR Downloads : Main OpenEMR download page.
• Patches : Patches for OpenEMR versions 4.1.0, 4.0.0, 3.2.0, and 3.1.0 .
• Contributed Forms : A place for sharing contributed forms.
• Tools : A place for sharing contributed tools related to OpenEMR.

Installation Manuals

• OpenEMR Installation Guides

Upgrade Manuals

• OpenEMR Upgrading Guides

User Manuals

Main

• OpenEMR 4.1 User Manual (Current stable release of OpenEMR)
• OpenEMR 4.0 User Manual
• OpenEMR 3.2 Users Manual (PDF)
• OpenEMR 3.1 Users Manual (PDF)
• OpenEMR 3.0 Users Manual (PDF)

Supplementary

• CAMOS module: CAMOS (Computer Aided Medical Ordering System) is, on the surface, just a fancy interface for organizing and choosing pieces of text to insert into a patient's chart. It is designed to be intuitive and easy to use. It can be turned on in OpenEMR via the admin->forms menu.
• Clinical Decision Rules
• Patient Portal
• Import RxNorm and SNOMED Tables
• Cross Reference of Radio Button Menu and Tree View
• Pharmacy Dispensary
• Simple Note Templates
• Credit Card Processing Inside OpenEMR
• Previews of Forms Distributed with OpenEMR
• Find - Search HowTos: Finding Things in OpenEMR - The Various Search Methods Used

Configuration Manuals

General

• Description of Settings: Documentation of the settings in Administration->Globals and Administration->Lists.
• Description of Access Controls: Documentation of the settings in Administration->ACL.
• Forms - Form Creation Tools: Tools for editing existing forms, and creating new forms in OpenEMR.
• Backup - Backup Tools: Backup Methods and Scripts in OpenEMR - Protecting Your Data
• Database - Database Conversion Tools: Changing Data For Use in OpenEMR
• Language Translation Configuration: OpenEMR has a thriving translation community with languages already available. If you have an interest in translating OpenEMR into your native language, please let us know.
• Patient Statement Printing/Configuration Howtos
• Layout Selection: OpenEMR now has three visual layouts to choose from. These instruction show how to configure this along with comparison screenshots.
• SSL Install Howtos
• UTF-8 Upgrade Howto

Modules

• Billing - Billing Setup Howtos: How To Configure and Use OpenEMR For Billing
• Calendar - Using The Calendar As A Tool: Using The Calendar As A Tool in OpenEMR
• Pharmacy Dispensary Module Configuration
• Sms/Email Notification Howtos

Developer Manuals

Main

• Information For New Developers: If you are a developer looking to contribute to the project, check this page for details on how to get started.
• Policies for Developers: Agreed upon policies developers must observe (or provide a good reason not to).
• Architecture Overview: Overview of OpenEMR's system architecture.
• Active Projects: Listing of currently active projects.
• Typical Work Flow in a Medical Clinic: A guide for developers who need to improve their knowledge of the work flow in an ambulatory clinic

Repository

• Our git Repository structure, work flow, and developer roles: This describes our current git repository structure, work flow, and current developer/contributor roles.
• git For Dummies: This is a quick, practical OpenEMR walk through with the goal of getting new developers up and working with git as quick as possible.
• Using Git with OpenEMR: Example workflow for preparing patches for OpenEMR with Git.
• Git Migration: Documentation of the migration from the cvs repository to the git repository, which was completed on 10/30/2010.

Internationalization

• Language Translation Development: A HOWTO on helping with translation of OpenEMR in your native language.

Modules and Modular Interfaces

• CDR Engine: stuff related to the Clinical Decision Rules engine.
• The Forms API: an interface for adding additional encounter and non-encounter based forms.
• Lists and Layouts: built-in List editing, and simple form layout editor.
• Sending Email: Preferred mechanism of sending email(s).
• Prescribing Module: Walk-through of the prescribing module.
• Code Types: Explains the current scheme for containing code types (such as ICD9, CPT) etc.

Development Guides

• Smarty: Using OpenEMR's embedded Smarty templating engine.
• LBV_Forms: Creating Layout Based forms
• OpenEMR_Xml_Form_Generator : XML based forms (generates php)
• Image Based Forms: Using MI2's new image based forms interface.

Embedded Components

• Jquery: a javascript toolkit, that makes writing javascript easier.
• PhpGacl: OpenEMR's embedded php-GACL (access controls).
• PhpMyAdmin: OpenEMR's embedded phpMyAdmin (database administration tool).

File Formats Used

• X12 837p Reference: A reference for the X12 billing files OpenEMR generates.

Security

• Security Alert Fixes: Track security alerts and fixes.
• Codebase Security: Assessment, plan, and tracking of project progress to globally secure the codebase.

Release Process

• Upgrade Mechanism: How upgrades are done.
• Patch Mechanism: How patches are done
• Steps for a patch release: Documented steps for a patch release.
• Steps for an official release: Documented the steps for an official full release.
• OpenEMR Copyright Notice: Contributors (testers, bug fixers, developers, etc.) can enter their information here if they want to by included in the Copyright Notice.
• New Features in Each Release: New features in each release (starting from version 4.0).
• Status of an ongoing new release process: Listing of active bugs and planned features with status for an ongoing release.

Package Development

• Appliance Developers Page: Page for Appliance development.
• Ubuntu-Debian Package Developers Page: Page for ubuntu-debian package development.
• Windows Installer

Project Tools

• OpenEMR Website: OpenEMR website description and development
• OpenEMR Wiki: OpenEMR wiki description and development
• OpenEMR Forum: OpenEMR forum description and development
• OpenEMR IRC: OpenEMR IRC chat channel description
• OpenEMR Twitter Feed: OpenEMR twitter feed description

Miscellaneous

• Automated Testing: OpenEMR has an automated test suite designed to help ensure that the code does what it's supposed to and that new features do not break existing features. (note that this thing has been broken/not used for some time now)
• How to Document Code: A guide for developers to document their code properly.
• PhpXref: For those of you familiar with PhpXref, here is a parsed copy of 4.0.0. It needs more documentation

Virtual Appliances

• Virtual Appliances Overview
• OpenEMR 4.1.0 Virtual Appliance
• OpenEMR Developer Virtual Appliance: Only for OpenEMR Developers and Testers; configures with most current development version of OpenEMR.
• Appliance Developers Page: Page for Appliance development.

Troubleshooting

• General Troubleshooting -- general problems people have experienced with OpenEMR, and (hopefully) their solutions.
• Common Installation Problems -- problems people have experienced installing OpenEMR, and (hopefully) their solutions.
• Take advantage of the free community support. If you have a question to ask?

• Ask at the Official OpenEMR Forums.
• Or try our IRC channel at #openemr

OpenEMR Articles and Presentations

Articles

• OpenEMR on Wikipedia (Current Article)
• DIY: OpenEMR, free software for medical practices (October, 2011)
• OpenEMR 4.1 Achieves Full 'Meaningful Use' Certification (August, 2011)
• Taking medical records into the digital age (2010)
• OpenEMR - At a glance (2010)
• FPAI conducts training on OpenEMR (2010)
• OpenEMR Success Story (2009)
• Guest Article: Open Source EMRs for free clinics (2009)
• Open Source Electronic Health Records: In Public Policy. (2009)
• Open Source Electronic Health Records: in Practice. (2009)
• Open Source EMR and Practice Management Software Appliance (2007)
• Using OpenEMR in Family Practice (2006)
• Technical Aspects of OpenEMR. Julia Weatherby (2006)
• OpenEMR Architecture. T. Simbini (2006)
• The OpenEMR Community. Margaret Donahue (2006)

Videos and Presentations

• Ohio LinuxFest Presentation (2011)

• Taking OpenEMR to Meaningful Use Certification and Beyond By Dr Samuel Bowen.

• AWAITING AUDIO/VIDEO TO BE RELEASED

• Portland Linux/Unix Group Presentation (2011)

• Introduction to OpenEMR By Tony McCormick

• Video: http://www.openaffairs.tv/2011/06/open-emr-presentation-and-discussion-at-portland-linux-user-group/

• POSSCON Presentation (2011)

• The Development & Growth of the OpenEMR Project By Dr Samuel Bowen and Tony McCormick

• Video: http://www.posscon.org/dr-sam-bowen/

• OSCON Presentation (2010)

• Taking OpenEMR, a GPL EMR to ARRA Meaningful Use Certification and beyond Presentation By Dr Samuel Bowen and Tony McCormick

• Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxd-ZJuiCEk
• Slides: OpenEMR-MUCert.pdf

• Related Blog Posts:

• Day One: http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/07/day-one-of-the-health-care-it.html
• Day Two: http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/07/vista-scenarios-and-other-cont.html
• Wrap Up: http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/07/wrap-up-of-the-health-care-it.html

Ongoing Projects

• General Marketing of OpenEMR: General articles describing the OpenEMR project and discussing features of OpenEMR.
• Open Source EMRs are Better: Articles to convince users why open source emrs are better than proprietary emrs by 1) defining open source software, 2) describing why open source EMR's are better than proprietary EMR's, 3) describing how to find a vendor/support and 4) showing examples of OpenEMR working in practices.

Organizations Supporting OpenEMR

• OEMR: OEMR is a non project 501(c)(3) organization that supports the OpenEMR project and accepts donations for the betterment of the project. This organization is the legal authority involved in Meaningful Use certification of OpenEMR.
• Sourceforge: Provides the OpenEMR project with free tools, including project management, file release repository, bug tracker, forums, and web space/server for the OpenEMR project web page and web tools.
• Open Source Medical Software: Open Source Medical Software is a not-for-profit company whose charter is to support all forms of FLOSS EHR/EMR and Health care related software projects.

Wiki Instructions

Consult the User's Guide for information on using the wiki software.

• Configuration settings list
• MediaWiki FAQ
• MediaWiki release mailing list
• Help - Formatting tips and other user assistance