How is the GOSEHR initiative run?
GOSEHR was launched at a summit meeting held at St Edmund Hall, Oxford in March 2024. Fordham University runs the Education program and co-ordinates the Research Program, which also involves academics from the University of Oxford (UK), the University of Victoria (Canada), the Norwegian eHealth Research Center, the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering (Ukraine) and the African Digital Health Research Institute. GOSEHR is supported by funding from Seven Informatics Ltd, a company based in the UK, together with grant and donor funding.
Local deployment of cityEHR is made by Community Companies operating in each target country, supported by Seven Informatics which develops, supports and maintains the core cityEHR product. Those companies create clinical information models for cityEHR, guided by the requirements of Healthcare Providers and Government Agencies.
Assessment of the requirements for open source EHR, and evaluation of the local deployments is made by independent university-led research. GOSEHR’s NGO partners in each target country co-ordinate the activities of the Community Companies, Healthcare Providers, Government Agencies and Universities in each country.
Which open source EHR is used by GOSEHR?
The GOSEHR initiative uses the cityEHR open source EHR, a web-based, model-driven system that uses ontology models of healthcare information and is based on over 15 years of academic research – see openhealthinformatics.org
Is cityEHR a local or a cloud-based application?
cityEHR is an Enterprise Java application that is deployed on a application server, such as Apache Tomcat, accessed through a web browser. As such is can be deployed on a local machine, a local server or through a cloud service.
Is cityEHR HL7 compliant?
cityEHR stores patient records as XML, using the HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA). Records can be imported and exported as HL7 CDA or as XML compatible with the structure of ISO 13606. When deployed in conjunction with the open source Mirth integration engine, cityEHR can interoperate systems supporting HL7 v2 or HL7 FHIR.
Is cityEHR a comprehensive Hospital Information System?
cityEHR is primarily a model-driven Electronic Health Records system, It can be deployed in any clinical setting in primary or secondary care, including the physician’s office, clinics, community hospitals or larger acute hospitals. Each deployment is driven by a clinical information which is developed specifically for that care setting, to record the structured clinical information required for clinical care and for research studies.
As well as the management of health records, cityEHR has features for care pathways, ordering, prescribing, scheduling and clinic booking.
Is cityEHR free of charge?
cityEHR is open source software, released under the LGPL open source license. It is free to use, under the conditions of the LGPL license. The source code is developed and maintained by Seven Informatics Ltd. Implementation, support and maintenance can be provided by healthcare providers themselves or by locally based organisations which generally charge for these services.
How is cityEHR implemented and supported?
Through the GOSEHR initiative, local NGOs, healthcare providers and community-based companies receive the education and training required to implement and support local installations. GOSEHR is supported by education and research programs led by Fordham University, which is based in New York, US. The research program includes university partners in the different regions in which cityEHR installations are made.