A Quantitative Approach to Evaluating Open-Source EHR Systems for Indian Healthcare

Abstract

The increasing use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) has emphasized the need for standardization and interoperability in healthcare data management. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, has introduced the Electronic Health Record Minimum Data Set (EHRMDS) to facilitate uniformity in clinical documentation. However, the compatibility of Open-Source Electronic Health Record Systems (OS-EHRS) with EHRMDS remains largely unexplored. This study conducts a systematic assessment of the alignment between EHRMDS and commonly utilized OS-EHRS to determine the most appropriate system for healthcare environments in India. A quantitative closeness analysis was performed by comparing the metadata elements of EHRMDS with those of 10 selected OS-EHRS. Using crosswalk methodologies based on syntactic and semantic similarity, the study measured the extent of metadata alignment. Results indicate that OpenEMR exhibits the highest compatibility with EHRMDS, covering 73.81% of its metadata elements, while OpenClinic shows the least alignment at 33.33%. Additionally, the analysis identified 47 metadata elements present in OS-EHRS but absent in EHRMDS, suggesting the need for an extended metadata schema. By bridging gaps in clinical metadata, this study contributes to enhancing the interoperability of EHR systems in India. The findings provide valuable insights for healthcare policymakers and organizations seeking to adopt OS-EHRS aligned with national standards. Keywords. EHR metadata, electronic health record systems, EHRMDS, meta data, structured vocabularies, metadata crosswalk, methodologies and tools, SNOMED-CT, UMLS terms.

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