Re: [Gnumed-devel] Interest in GNUmed

[Jim Busser]

On 2009-10-21, at 1:59 PM, Karsten Hilbert wrote:

It is. But there usually is at least 2 types of billing:

which could *both* be integrated under a common framework...

1) Simple:

Simpleinvoices demo seems clean and uncluttered:

http://www.simpleinvoices.org/demo/

and work on Postgres has been started

http://simpleinvoices.org/forum/discussion/877/

however some queries likely need reformatting to conform with postgres syntax using "switch"

http://simpleinvoices.org/forum/discussion/688/

and some available mysql-based "how to" installation instructions might need cloning and revising for Postgres

http://www.howtoforge.com/simple_invoices_debian_etch

2) Common framework:

If the above looks attractive for simple billing can I recommend that we build on the GNUmed proposal already in place for billing, in which GNUmed could capture basic information in a billable items table and secondarily pass this information to either a simple system (Simple Invoices) and/or to a complex system such as may be able to perform (e.g. United States) e-billing:

http://wiki.gnumed.de/bin/view/Gnumed/BillingProposal

If there is some possibility of funding to support the development of integration / interoperability between an EMR (GNUmed) and (United States) billing, can I suggest that any Americans interested in GNUmed be encouraged or even helped to identify American vendors of Billing and Accounts Receivable (BAR) software?

It is entirely reasonable (IMHO) that the maker of a closed-source, proprietary billing product might be just as happy to steer clear of trying to code and maintain an entire (clinically-oriented) EMR and only grasp the low-hanging fruit of being able to sell, and derive ongoing revenue from, the billing aspects. See for example Goole results from "billing hippa integration"

http://www.omnimd.com/html/softwareintegration.html

http://www.optimedsolutions.com/services.html

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/hipaa-compliant-medical-billing-services.html

http://www.spothealthcare.com/keyword,Medical+Billing+HIPAA/search.htm

http://www.binaryspectrum.com/industries/healthcare/healthcarecomponents.html

http://www.ezmed.info/hipaa-compliant-medical-billing-software.html

e.g. "EZ-Med medical billing and coding software provides a patient ledger with complete accounts receivable, HMO/PPO fee schedules, superbills, electronic medical records interfacing, customized coding and tracking, electronic remittances and claims submissions, and powerful reporting capabilities... EZ-Med Software will seamless integrate with any HL7 compliant  Electronic Medical Records Software."

---> not only could GNUmed optionally deliver billable info into BAR software as above, but GNUmed could also be driven by the BAR software as per

http://wiki.gnumed.de/bin/view/Gnumed/BillingSlaveMode