Have you ever wondered how it is to be working in an open-source environment, operating on a global scale and helping many people around the world? Students from Polish universities will soon have an opportunity to find out! openIMIS, collaborating with SolDevelo and SolDevelo Foundation, is preparing to launch an internships in IT program that would provide students with positive and growth-friendly experience with working in the field.
In this article we will introduce you to the idea, and to our further plans.
About the organizers
openIMIS (open source Insurance Management Information System) is an open-source software used on a global scale. It was created for the purpose of managing insurances and medical expenses refunds. openIMIS has many years of experience in the field of health financing schemes in different parts of the world. It includes both, small social programs and national systems of social health insurance.
To better understand how openIMIS works, check out this short video!
In order to engage beginner developers in the program’s development, openIMIS offers a chance for them to participate in its projects. It will provide students with a valuable experience, while at the same time supporting the growth of the open source’s functionalities.
SolDevelo is a Gdynia-based software house with over 10 years of experience in the field, actively engaged in both commercial and non-profit projects. As co-creators of many open-source solutions, and the authors of crucial openIMIS’ modules, SolDevelo developers are capable of providing students with professional advice and support.
SolDevelo Foundation was created in 2018, and since then it has been developing its offer of marketing services, collaborating with many projects, such as openIMIS, OpenMRS, OpenLMIS or OpenBoxes. The Foundation is experienced in the field of promotion of open-source softwares, as well as hosting this type of solutions in a cloud. By organizing the collaboration with Polish universities, we want to give students a chance to grow, and provide them with interesting and positive experiences with working in the IT field.
Together we would like to offer students the possibility to undertake an internship or complete a thesis project with openIMIS. The students can count on the experienced team of SolDevelo’s developers that will introduce them to their tasks and help them throughout the internship period. Collaborating with openIMIS can not only provide students with valuable experience in the IT field and in an open-source project, but can also give them a chance to contribute to a development of Universal Health Coverage, and to use their skills for a good cause.
Projects that we want to pursue with the students
After discussing the initiative and selecting through countless ideas, our developers came up with a list of potential projects that could be completed by the students who decide to collaborate with us. Here is a short description of each one of them:
Beneficiary self-management
The user should be able to check all of their personal information on their own. openIMIS should provide access to functionalities such as: claims paid by providers, feedback on quality of services, payment reminders, etc.
2 factor authentication
2FA greatly improves the security of any website. While passwords can be stolen or leaked, access to email or phone is much harder to overcome. Given the nature of the data, an additional layer of protection would be advised. The user should receive code (via SMS or email) to be typed in the web app or mobile app.
Claim dispute and appeals
When a user creates a claim they have to write some justification. This creates a few problems. Automatic analysis of claims would have to be prepared to analyze claim justification in different languages. Every new implementation would require development time spent on creating an AI module for a different language. Second problem would be inconsistent decision-making. Claims that are basically the same in essence could have different outcomes at the appeal process, because of different wording. Proposed solution is to change this to a drop-down field and add an optional field for additional comments.
Mobile apps integrated with modular backend
As a part of the process of porting openIMIS to newer technologies and to a modular version, a new backend had been created. It is currently used by an upgraded version of web app, but should also be used by mobile applications to lessen complexity of the whole project.
New Homepage
openIMIS would benefit from generic configurable homepage that can be used throughout the different implementations – specific countries and user groups can benefit from particular information displayed.
Finding the nearest provider
App could be connected to maps data and provide user with information where given medical service can be offered to insuree. This feature should allow one to choose the specialization of the provider.
Notifications
Integration with different mediums of communication (e.g. SMS, Whatsapp, e-mails) to send messages to insurees and stakeholders.
Selenium tests
Right now openIMIS has limited scope of test coverage. Developing proper tests will improve the development process and resilience of the whole project and due to the modular nature of the application it could easily prevent hard to detect bugs.
Claims pre-authorization
Some claims require additional insurer authorization before proceeding – for example expensive heart operations. openIMIS should allow users and insurers to perform this without any external means of communication.
Linking referral cases
Some illnesses require long and complicated treatment that is divided into different stages. Right now the system tracks this information using insuree’s identifier. As an additional requirement the system should be able to track this as referral chains between different services, items, health facilities, etc. HF’s would then be able to tell easily whether some was referred to this treatment and by whom.
Integrated document management
Each insuree in the application requires a lot of files to be sent to ensure that their insurance coverage is paid for. Those are the things such as worker registration, income and contributions statements, etc. openIMIS users should be able to retrieve those files easily. Proposed solution should be implemented as a separate module that would be connected to each of the other parts (web app, claim app, etc.).
Supporting the growth of young developers
As the main coordinator of this initiative, SolDevelo Foundation is happy and excited to create an opportunity for the students to grow and use their skills for a good cause. With the help from experienced SolDevelo and openIMIS developers, they can be sure to successfully complete their internships or thesis projects.
We are currently in the middle of the recruitment process. Stay tuned! We will keep you updated 🙂
More articles on openIMIS can be found here.
