OpenEMR Stands Up To Hurricane Maria's Fury in Puerto Rico

RUTLAND, Vt. - Nov. 15, 2017 - PRLog -- Throughout both Hurricane Maria's initial impact and the rebuilding efforts, Puerto Rico has suffered tremendous infrastructure damage leaving the majority of the islands some 3.4 million people without power, water, communications, and internet access. Despite these challenges, OpenEMR would prove to be vital at multiple healthcare facilities as the island begins the process of rebuilding.

During and immediately following the hurricane's devastating wind and rain, the following healthcare providers noted OpenEMR as an essential tool in receiving and assisting a large volume of patients:

• Dr. Jorge Meléndez of Centro Médico Diagnóstico Muñoz Rivera
• Dr. José Sepúlveda of Betances Clinical Center
• Dr. Cid Quintana and Dr. Juan Vilaró of Centro Cardiovascular de Puerto Rico
• Dr. Charles Vilaró Nelms
• Dr. Glenda Miranda, Dr. Tania Ramírez and Dr. Lillian Borrego of Renalife PSC and many others

What did they all have in common? Some had power or a generator, most had no internet access, but all had OpenEMR with individualized customization installed on HITECH Compliance MD-Guardian Server.

Fast forward two months later and a total of three service calls (two forgotten passwords and one change of ISP), OpenEMR is still running strong at all locations. In fact, OpenEMR has been working equally as hard and efficiently before and during Hurricanes Irma and María and the ongoing island-wide crisis.

During these difficult times, HITECH Compliance anticipated that client support calls would increase, however they did not, leading the HITECH Compliance team to actively reach out to each location to ensure the system was running as expected. HITECH Compliance either called or in some instances, due to lack of communications, decided to visit each site. Despite critical infrastructure failures throughout the island, the HITECH Compliance team found that their clients were still successfully using OpenEMR to serve the population.

"Lack of infrastructure, broken power grids and loss of internet access has made living very challenging in Puerto Rico. Despite these ongoing challenges, OpenEMR has allowed my customers to seamlessly provide care to their patients," stated Alfonso Perez, Chief Technology Officer of HITECH Compliance.

About OpenEMR

OpenEMR is an electronic health record (EHR) system that was originally developed in 2002 by physicians to help them run their practices. As an open-source project, it is maintained and supported by a vibrant community of volunteers and professionals that includes several hundred contributors and is supported by more than 40 companies. OpenEMR is ONC Certified as a Complete EHR and it is recognized as the most popular open-source electronic health records and medical practice management solution in the world. OpenEMR is downloaded more than 5,000 times per month, and it is estimated that it is used by more than 100,000 medical providers serving more than 200 million patients. OpenEMR has been translated into 33 languages and is used by facilities in more than 100 countries across the globe. Open-source software has changed the world for the better, and OpenEMR is a leader in healthcare open-source software. Costly proprietary EMRs are no longer the only option. 

About HITECH Compliance

HITECH Compliance is a HITECH, HIPAA and Technology Compliance, integration and support company that is Puerto Rico based and is primarily servicing the Caribbean. As one of the OpenEMR vendors to obtain and maintain all of the prestigious American Health Information Managers Association's (AHIMA) Certified Healthcare Technical Support credentials, HITECH Compliance is proud to be a Certified OpenEMR Professional Support Provider and Contributor.