CURE International to Develop a Free Open-Source Electronic Medical Record System
CURE International, a Christian nonprofit organization that operates a global network of eight charitable pediatric hospitals in developing countries, is building an open-source electronic medical record (EMR) system that will be available to other hospitals in developing countries — dramatically increasing the efficiency of medical institutions around the world.
For billions of people, medical records are printed or handwritten on paper or cards and given to patients for safekeeping. Paper records are not uniform; are frequently lost, damaged, or illegible; cannot be updated; and take valuable time for medical staff to process.
The EMR system will allow hospitals to safely and reliably digitize, store, and easily access outpatient and inpatient clinical data, diagnostic results, monitoring and evaluation data, and surgical details in one centralized system. The US Government Accountability Office benchmark for the length of stay reduction associated with EMR systems is 30% , allowing more patients to receive even better treatment through more efficient use of existing resources.
“As a hospital network that treats children with treatable disabilities around the world, CURE knows firsthand that EMR systems allow more children to have better and faster access to lifechanging medical care,” said Justin Narducci, President/CEO of CURE International. “We are always looking for ways to maximize our impact and strongly believe that building the most comprehensive open source EMR for nonprofit hospitals will be a major leap forward for our team and children who are in need of medical care.”
Once completed, the system will be made available in an open-source format to all medical institutions around the world, allowing for relatively easy customization and implementation in hundreds of unique hospital and clinical settings.
The software is being developed by Thoughtworks, a global technology development firm, and is based on the Bahmni and OpenMRS open-source projects. The project is funded by a generous grant from the Kingdom Giving Fund (KGF) and is expected to be fully developed, operational, and shared with the world by January 2025.
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