Case Study: Partners In Health achieves a user-friendly EMR for University Hospital at Mirebalais with ThoughtWorks

Partners In Health - Customer Case Study

Partners In Health (PIH) engaged ThoughtWorks to develop an electronic medical records (EMR) system for the new 300‑bed University Hospital at Mirebalais in Haiti. The challenge was to deliver a scalable, user‑friendly, multilingual EMR with real‑time data entry and PACS integration for clinicians with varying computer literacy—on a tight schedule to be ready for the hospital opening.

ThoughtWorks and PIH co‑developed a customized OpenMRS solution using Agile practices, extensive onsite usability testing, a live style guide, keyboard‑centric workflows, localization for Haitian Creole and French, and integration for scanned records and imaging. The system launched on time for the hospital opening in spring 2013, supported hundreds of users and thousands of patients (8,700+ registered by May 2013), enabled real‑time clinical data entry, and returned code, testing frameworks, and Agile experience to the OpenMRS and PIH teams.

Partners In Health