Healing Ministries & 'Open' Health IT Systems

Introduction

As shown in the table below, healing is one of the central themes of the gospels presented in the New Testament of the Bible. During his ministry, Jesus healed lepers, blind men, the lame, a hemorrhaging woman, the demon-possessed, and even raised the dead.In the book of Acts, Jesus involved his disciples in the work of healing. That book contains a number of accounts of healing by Christ's followers. The epistles of Paul discuss healing as a gift of the Spirit.

Christian spiritual healing is often seen as healing through faith, prayer, spiritual disciplines, and the dominance of spiritual values in one’s quest for wholeness. However, most Christians understand that healing is not limited to spiritual methods alone. Spiritual methods often rely on the overlapping use of the physical and psychological methods of healing in modern medicine.

New Testament Verses in the Gospels About Healing

Jesus Heals a Leper - Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16 Jesus Heals Roman Officer’s Servant - Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10 Jesus Heals Peter’s Mother-In-Law - Matthew 8:14-15 Jesus Heals the Many - Matthew 8:15-16; Luke 4:38-39 Jesus Heals Two Men - Matthew 8:28-32; Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39 Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man - Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26 Jesus Heals Woman Who Touched His Cloak - Matthew 9:20-22; Luke 8:43-48 Jesus Heals the Officials Daughter - Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56 Jesus Heals Two Blind Men - Matthew 9:27-31 Jesus Heals Many People - Matthew 9:35

The Healing Mission - Matthew 10:7-8; Luke 9:1-6 Jesus Heals Man with Paralyzed Hand - Matthew 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11 Jesus Heals a Crowd - Matthew 12:15-16 Jesus Heals a Blind and Dumb Man - Matthew 12:22; Luke 11:14 Jesus Heals a Woman’s Daughter - Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30 Jesus Heals Large Crowds - Matthew 15:30-31 Jesus Heals an Epileptic Boy - Matthew 17:15-18; Luke 9:38-43 Jesus Heals Two Blind Men at Jericho - Matthew 20:29-34; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43 Jesus Heals a Dumb Man - Matthew 9:32-33

Background

During the early years of Christianity, physical healing was an integral component of Christian life and faith reflecting God's message of love, compassion, and care.

In the 4th century, influenced primarily by Western theologians, Christians began to regard illness as a punishment from God. Over the centuries, spiritual versus physical health increasingly became separate or compartmentalized. During the Dark Ages and subsequent centuries, an attitude toward faith as an intellectual rather than experiential exercise, further diminished the ministry of healing in the church.

Despite these trends, individual Christians continued to be healed and many of their testimonies are recorded in historical records. In the mid-19th century, people began to reaffirm the relationships between faith and healing. Today, a more holistic, integrated view of health has emerged and many churches and faithful believers have become more involved in the Christian ministry of healing.

Today, churches and faithful believers are actively engaged in the ministry of healing. Praying for the sick is a regular ministry or activity of individual believers and church prayer groups in every community. Many churches also offer individual counseling and group therapy as part of their healing ministry. Many large church denominations operate or support hospitals and clinics in your community staffed by highly trained Christian physicians, nurses, technicians, administrators, and hospital chaplains – all committed to the healing ministry.

Health Information Technology (IT)

One of the keys to providing high quality health care today is the ability of clinicians and patients to access health information when and where it is most needed. Today, health information technologies (IT) play an increasingly important role in health care ministries.

 The Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society (HIMSS) defines the Electronic Health Record (EHR) as a longitudinal electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting. Included in this information are patient demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data, radiology reports, decision support, outcomes measurement, and many other software modules. The EHR automates and streamlines the clinician's workflow. See http://www.himss.org/ASP/topics_ehr.asp

According to the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the Personal Health Record (PHR) is an electronic, lifelong resource of health information needed by individuals to make health decisions. Individuals own and manage the information in their PHR, which comes from healthcare providers and the individual. The PHR should be maintained in a secure and private environment, with the individual determining rights of access to the data it contains. The PHR does not replace the legal electronic health records(EHR) systems health care provider organizations use. See http://library.ahima.org/xpedio/groups/public/documents/ahima/pub_bok1_027351.html

Findings & Recommendations

Many Christian health care organizations cannot afford to acquire information technologies (IT) and systems needed to further enhance their healing ministries and programs. Fortunately, there are now many high quality, free and 'open source' administrative and health IT software systems now available. Two sources churches or individuals should check out when looking for information about tools that can be used in their healing ministries include COSI Open Health and Open Health News.

The following are some examples of free and open source EHR and PHR solutions that should be considered:

EHR Systems – OSCAR; OpenEHR; OpenMRS; ClearHealth; VistA

PHR Systems – Indivo; iHealth Record; MS HealthVault; AHIMA myPHR

* Also, check out the COSI Open Religious Technology web site.

Are you using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in your individual or church healing ministry? Tell us about it.