OpenMRS

Target SDGs

Target Users (Target Impact Group)

Household

Distributors / Implementing Organizations

OpenMRS, Partners in Health, Thoughtworks, AMPATH, Jembi Health Systems, and other OpenMRS community members

Regions

Worldwide

Manufacturing/Building Method

OpenMRS relies on the assistance of developers from the OpenMRS community to improve the system.

Intellectural Property Type

Open-source

User Provision Model

OpenMRS can be downloaded online. The Android app is available for download from the Google Play Store. The source code can also be downloaded directly.

Experts note that OpenMRS has been used by humanitarian organizations such as Save the Children for health-related situations such as West African Ebola outbreak.

Distributions to Date Status

OpenMRS has been downloaded 324,801 times in 212 countries from July 27, 2010 to May 24, 2019. There are 1,845 reported implementation sites with over 6.3 million active patients as of December 2016.

Design Specifications

OpenMRS enables developers to create customized applications with the OpenMRS Platform, OpenMRS modules, and (optionally) other integrated applications. Key features of they system include:

- Central concept dictionary: Definitions of all data (both questions and answers) are defined in a centralized dictionary, allowing for robust, coded data

- Security: User authentication

- Privilege-based access: User roles and permission system

- Patient repository: Creation and maintenance of patient data, including demographics, clinical observations, encounter data, orders, etc.

- Multiple identifiers per patient: A single patient may have multiple medical record numbers

- Data entry: With the FormEntry module, clients with InfoPath (included in Microsoft Office 2003 and later) can design and enter data using flexible, electronic forms. With the HTML FormEntry module, forms can be created with customized HTML and run directly within the web application.

- Data export: Data can be exported into a spreadsheet format for use in other tools (Excel, Access, etc.)

- Modular architecture: An OpenMRS Module can extend and add any type of functionality to the existing API and webapp.

- Patient workflows: An embedded patient workflow service allows patient to be put into programs (studies, treatment programs, etc.) and tracked through various states.

- Cohort management: The cohort builder allows you to create groups of patients for data exports, reporting, etc.

- Relationships: Relationships between any two people (patients, relatives, caretakers, etc.)

- Patient merging: Merging duplicate patients

- Localization / internationalization: Multiple language support and the possibility to extend to other languages with full UTF-8 support.

- Support for complex data: Radiology images, sound files, etc. can be stored as “complex” observations

- Reporting tools: Flexible reporting tools

- Person attributes: The attributes of a person can be extended to meet local needs

- Integrated applications : EHR(Electronic health record) ,PMS (Practice management software) , ERP (Enterprise resource planning)

- Configurable reports

- Interoperability: Hl7 (Health level 7)

- Coding system: ICD-9/10 SNOMED, CPT, HCPCS,

-Patient portal

- Access control model: ACL (Access control list)

-Web client

Basic infrastructure requirements to implement OpenMRS include a reliable power source, connectivity to the Internet and/or a local area network (for implementations with multiple locations), computers, virus protection, basic computer maintenance, and a server. The storage space required depends on the size of the project, but most installations require a minimum of 2GB RAM and 250GB hard disk.

Product Schematics

Technical Support

OpenMRS University holds an online "office hours" session every week to teach developers and implementers about OpenMRS and answer questions. Support materials for developers and implementers are available on the OpenMRS Wiki page. OpenMRS also hosts a discussion forum, OpenMRS Talk, as a channel for communication and support.

An on-site IT professional is needed for the first 2-3 months of implementation. It is recommended that implementers develop a maintenance plan to ensure long term operation of OpenMRS. Experts also note that deployment will require a knowledgeable and dedicated team to procure resources for hosting and maintenance.

Replacement Components

N/A

Lifecycle

N/A

Manufacturer Specified Performance Parameters

Unknown

Vetted Performance Status

The OpenMRS framework was used to develop an EMR system at a University Hospital in Haiti and was used to register 8,700 unique patients within the first month of use. OpenMRS has been used to develop an electronic medical record system in Kenya that has stored over 720,000 patient records, 4.9 millions encounters, and 178 millions observations as of February 2014.

Safety

N/A

Complementary Technical Systems

Unknown

Academic Research and References

Compliance with regulations

The OpenMRS platform is compliant with HL7 standards and can be configured to meet local standards and requirements.

Evaluation methods

Pilot studies that used surveys to evaluate perceived benefits of the platform: OpenMRS, A Global Medical Records System Collaborative: Factors Influencing Successful Implementation.

Other Information

There is a demo for users to test the platform interface