OEMR.org Wins 501(c)(3) Status

OEMR.org is a new non-profit corporation dedicated to improving OpenEMR. It was awarded 501(c)(3) status as a public charity by the IRS on November 18, 2010, effective retroactively to July 14, 2010.

Yours Truly (Rod) has donated the oemr.org domain (created in 2005) to the organization, and we wish her the best in her efforts to build membership and a base of contributions to support improvements to the project. This is so important, because most improvements currently and in the past have been sponsored for specific new features and not for the more general "infrastructure" of the software.

The creation of OEMR has been driven by a small group of vendors. However in order to become effective, its membership and in turn its Board of Directors will need to be primarily composed of OpenEMR users. These would be people like doctors and clinic managers, those for whom the software was created. OpenEMR first and foremost serves the interests of its users, not the vendors who are paid to improve it. If OEMR.org does the same then it will be in a fine position to influence the direction of the project.

Be aware that OEMR.org is not the same as the OpenEMR project. The project per se is operated and controlled by its developers, as those are the people who write the software and who must ensure that the "bits and bytes" fit together in a coherent, consistent and sensible way. Given the nature of Open Source, the developers have very strong motivations to ensure that the needs of users are met, to the degree possible given available resources.

We encourage you to join OEMR.org and, if you are so inclined, to serve on its Board of Directors, helping it to become successful in its efforts to improve the software in ways that are not possible by individual sponsors.

Conversely, if you have a desire for any improvement and the means to fund it, working with us directly is the fast, easy and efficient way to get it done.