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Healthcare · head to head

Included Health vs OpenMRS

Included Health logo

Included Health

Healthcare

Care navigation and virtual care in one contract for self funded employers and health plans

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
OpenMRS logo

OpenMRS

Healthcare

Open source electronic medical record platform for low-resource settings, with no vendor and paid implementers instead

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only OpenMRS has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Included Health owning both the navigation recommendations and the virtual care delivery creates a structural incentive to steer members to the vendor own clinicians, and an employer should require disclosure and measurement of how often that happens.; OpenMRS there is no vendor and no support contract from OpenMRS itself, so a procurement that requires a named supplier with a service level must instead contract an implementer, and the quality of that implementer determines the outcome more than the software does
  • They diverge on capability: Included Health covers Care navigation, OpenMRS covers Concept dictionary.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Included Health and OpenMRS actually diverge.

Attributes where Included Health and OpenMRS differ
AttributeIncluded HealthOpenMRS
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidLinux, Web, Windows

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Healthcare).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Included Health

  • Care navigation
  • Provider quality steerage
  • Expert medical opinion
  • Virtual primary care
  • Virtual behavioural health
  • Virtual urgent care
  • Benefits integration
  • Employer reporting

Only in OpenMRS

  • Concept dictionary
  • Modular architecture
  • Modern front end
  • FHIR support
  • Offline tolerance
  • Patient matching and registration
  • Distributions

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Included Health

  • A large self funded employer whose members cannot tell which specialist to see and who currently absorbs the cost of poor referral decisionsnot OpenMRS
  • An employer that has bought several point solutions and needs one front door that routes members to the ones already paid fornot OpenMRS
  • A self funded plan wanting expert second opinions before high cost elective surgery, where a changed recommendation pays for the programmenot OpenMRS
  • An employer replacing separate navigation and telehealth vendors with one contract and one member experiencenot OpenMRS

OpenMRS

  • A ministry of health standardising HIV treatment records across hundreds of facilities where per-patient licensing would be unaffordablenot Included Health
  • A hospital network in a country where no commercial vendor supports the local language, clinical forms or reporting requirementsnot Included Health
  • An NGO running a tuberculosis programme that must report into DHIS2 and needs the clinical record beneath it to be modifiablenot Included Health
  • A health system that wants to own its clinical data model outright rather than depend on a vendor to extend itnot Included Health

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Included Health

  • Owning both the navigation recommendations and the virtual care delivery creates a structural incentive to steer members to the vendor own clinicians, and an employer should require disclosure and measurement of how often that happens.
  • Pricing is per employee per month across the whole eligible population, so a plan with low navigation engagement pays for everyone to serve the minority who call.
  • Savings claims rest on avoided costs and changed referral decisions, which are counterfactual by nature, so performance guarantees need very careful definition or they measure activity rather than money.
  • The company is a merger of three organisations with different origins, and members and benefits teams still encounter seams between navigation, virtual primary care and behavioural health that the single brand implies are absent.
  • It sells primarily to large self funded employers, so mid market employers and fully insured plans find both the pricing and the implementation effort disproportionate to their size.

OpenMRS

  • There is no vendor and no support contract from OpenMRS itself, so a procurement that requires a named supplier with a service level must instead contract an implementer, and the quality of that implementer determines the outcome more than the software does
  • It is a framework rather than a ready product, so a deployment requires clinical content, form design, concept dictionary work and integration before a single patient is registered, and that work is months of skilled effort
  • Funding comes largely from donor programmes, which makes the pace of core development dependent on grant cycles rather than on a commercial roadmap, and priorities can shift when a funder does
  • Distribution choice, core OpenMRS against Bahmni against Ozone, locks in a different set of components and a different implementer pool, and migrating between distributions later is close to a fresh implementation
  • The people cost never goes away: a national deployment needs permanent internal informatics capacity or a permanent support contract, and organisations that budget only the zero licence fee run out of money at the point the system becomes clinically critical

Pricing, plan by plan

Included Health

On request
  • Included Health$undefined/year
    • Per employee per month across the eligible population, quoted not published
    • Navigation and virtual care modules priced separately or bundled
    • Some components offered with performance guarantees tied to measured savings

OpenMRS

Free
  • OpenMRSFree
    • Openly licensed, no licence fee and no seat limits
    • Community support through forums and the OpenMRS Talk platform
    • No support contract available from OpenMRS itself

Which should you pick?

Choose Included Health if

  • You need care navigation.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want provider quality steerage.
Included Health review

Choose OpenMRS if

  • You need concept dictionary.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Web, Windows.
  • You also want modular architecture.
OpenMRS review

Questions people ask

Is Included Health or OpenMRS better?
Neither clearly leads. Included Health starts at On request and OpenMRS at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Included Health or OpenMRS?
OpenMRS has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Included Health and Free for OpenMRS.
Does Included Health or OpenMRS run on more platforms?
Included Health runs on Web, iOS, Android. OpenMRS runs on Linux, Web, Windows.
Can I use OpenMRS for free?
Yes. OpenMRS has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Included Health starts at On request.
What is Included Health best used for?
Included Health is most often used for a large self funded employer whose members cannot tell which specialist to see and who currently absorbs the cost of poor referral decisions, an employer that has bought several point solutions and needs one front door that routes members to the ones already paid for, a self funded plan wanting expert second opinions before high cost elective surgery, where a changed recommendation pays for the programme, an employer replacing separate navigation and telehealth vendors with one contract and one member experience. Of those, a large self funded employer whose members cannot tell which specialist to see and who currently absorbs the cost of poor referral decisions and an employer that has bought several point solutions and needs one front door that routes members to the ones already paid for are not what OpenMRS is typically brought in for.
What can Included Health do that OpenMRS cannot?
Included Health covers Care navigation, Provider quality steerage, Expert medical opinion, Virtual primary care. OpenMRS covers Concept dictionary, Modular architecture, Modern front end, FHIR support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Included Health: What exactly is Included Health?

The combination of Grand Rounds Health navigation, Doctor On Demand virtual care and the original Included Health concierge service, operating under one brand since late 2021.

OpenMRS: Who supports OpenMRS if it breaks?

Not OpenMRS itself. Support is bought from implementers such as Mekom Solutions, which offers long-term production service level agreements for OpenMRS, Bahmni and Ozone deployments, or from regional partners.

Included Health: Who pays for it?

The self funded employer or the health plan pays a per employee per month fee. Virtual care visits may also carry member cost sharing depending on plan design.

OpenMRS: Is it really free?

The software has no licence fee. Hosting, configuration, clinical content, integration and support are the real cost, and they are ongoing.

Included Health: Is there a minimum size?

No published minimum, but it sells primarily to large self funded employers and the pricing and implementation effort do not suit small organisations.

OpenMRS: What is the difference between OpenMRS, Bahmni and Ozone?

OpenMRS is the core platform. Bahmni and Ozone are distributions that package it with billing, laboratory and inventory components. Choosing a distribution constrains your implementer options.

Included Health: How does it recommend providers?

Through data driven quality analysis rather than a plain directory. Ask specifically how those recommendations are produced and how often they resolve to the company own virtual clinicians.

OpenMRS: Does it support FHIR?

Yes. FHIR support is the standard route for integrating laboratory, pharmacy and national reporting systems.

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