# Clinic management software for primary and medium clinics > Front desk, EMR, lab, pharmacy and billing for primary and medium clinics in Ethiopia, with Ethiopian calendar, Telegram booking and HMIS return. Source: https://www.medicine.et/for/clinics Site: Bloom Medicine — https://www.medicine.et --- Every service charged where it happens, a drug window that will not release medicine until the visit is paid, and any patient found in seconds by name, phone or card number. Built for Ethiopian private clinics — on the Ethiopian calendar, with Telegram booking and the HMIS return included. ## Measured in Ethiopia - **18.4%** — of 2,145 audited paper records across 73 southern Ethiopian facilities were complete and readable ([Research note · Paper to EMR](https://www.medicine.et/research/paper-to-emr-gap)) - **41–185 min** — total time in the facility per outpatient visit in Jimma Zone public hospitals ([Research note · Waiting times](https://www.medicine.et/research/outpatient-waiting-and-satisfaction)) - **46.3%** — of Ethiopia’s current health spending was paid out of pocket in 2023 — at your counter ([Research note · Who pays](https://www.medicine.et/research/who-pays-for-care)) - **39.2%** — of 401 hypertensive patients across four South Gondar hospitals missed appointment follow-up ([Research note · Missed appointments](https://www.medicine.et/research/missed-appointments)) ## The problems we hear from clinic owners - **Money lost between the room and the cashier** — An injection given, a dressing changed, a test added at the last minute — when the charge depends on someone remembering at the end of the visit, some of it never reaches the bill. - **Cards that cannot be found** — A missing or misfiled card means the history is taken again, tests are repeated and the patient waits while someone searches the shelves. - **A waiting room nobody can see** — Who is next, who has waited longest, who has paid — on paper, nobody knows until a patient complains. - **Stock-outs, expiry and the inspector** — Expired medicine on the shelf is waste on a good day and a closure on a bad one. Bin cards that do not match the shelf will not satisfy an inspector. - **Chronic patients who do not come back** — Hypertension and diabetes are repeat-visit conditions. Each missed review is a patient getting worse, and a visit your clinic did not have. - **The HMIS report nobody has time for** — Private clinics are expected to report too, and the monthly tally from registers falls to whoever is least busy. ## What changes - **Charged where it happens** — Services and consumables selected in the room become the invoice line — one balance per visit, however many counters the patient passes. - **No medicine leaves unpaid** — The pharmacy will not release medicine until the visit is paid, and each cashier closes their shift with a Z-report by payment channel. - **Any patient in seconds** — Find a patient by name, phone or card number, with a duplicate warning at registration — one record per person, with every visit on it. - **Start small, add as you grow** — Start with the core — front desk, charting, billing, staff and reports — and switch on lab, pharmacy, inventory or insurance when you need them. ## The modules clinic owners use - [Front Desk & Patient Flow](https://www.medicine.et/features#front-desk) — One screen for the whole front desk, and a live board showing where every patient is. - [Patient Management](https://www.medicine.et/features#patient-management) — One record per person, findable in seconds and hard to duplicate by accident. - [Appointments & Booking](https://www.medicine.et/features#appointments) — Booking against real staff availability, including requests patients raise themselves. - [Consultation & Clinical Records](https://www.medicine.et/features#consultation) — Structured charting the facility shapes itself, filled in during the consultation. - [Laboratory](https://www.medicine.et/features#laboratory) (add-on) — Ordering from the room, a worksheet for the bench, and results that keep their corrections. - [Pharmacy](https://www.medicine.et/features#pharmacy) (add-on) — A dispensing window that knows the prescription, the stock and whether the visit is paid. - [Billing & Payments](https://www.medicine.et/features#billing) — One balance per visit, however many counters and bills it passed through. - [Inventory & Stock](https://www.medicine.et/features#inventory) (add-on) — Purchasing, receiving and consumption in one ledger, so the screen matches the shelf. - [Notifications](https://www.medicine.et/features#notifications) — Telegram, WhatsApp, SMS and push from your own templates, with proof of what arrived. - [HMIS & Surveillance](https://www.medicine.et/features#hmis) — The national returns a facility is legally required to file, produced from the work already recorded. ## A clinic visit, the way it should run 1. **Book or walk in** — Patients book on Telegram or your booking page, or walk in — both join the same queue. 2. **Register and check in** — The front desk finds or registers the patient, checks them in and takes the card fee on one screen. 3. **Vitals and triage** — Vitals are taken before the doctor sees the patient, and acuity can reorder the queue. 4. **Consultation** — The doctor charts, diagnoses with ICD-10, orders tests and prescribes — each order raises its charge. 5. **Lab and pharmacy** — The lab works from its worksheet; the pharmacy dispenses once the visit is paid. 6. **Pay and follow up** — One balance for the visit; the next appointment and its reminder are set before the patient leaves. ## Questions ### Can we start with just the front desk and billing, and add lab and pharmacy later? Yes. Laboratory, Pharmacy, Inventory, Insurance, Triage and others are add-on modules, switched on per facility when you need them. ### Does it use the Ethiopian calendar? Yes. The Ethiopian calendar and time are used throughout, or Gregorian for anyone who prefers it. ### Can patients book online? Yes — through a public booking page and through Telegram, where patients can book, reschedule or cancel. You accept or decline each request. ### Will it produce our HMIS report? It produces the monthly, quarterly and annual HMIS service return, the OPD disease return and a DHIS2 export keyed by FMOH indicator code, in Word and Excel. It exports; it does not submit to DHIS2 for you. ### Can we bring our old patient list? Yes. Bulk import from Excel or CSV, reviewed before anything is written, with rollback of a batch. ### Can a receptionist see diagnoses? Only if their role allows it. Roles are defined by your clinic, and every action is logged. ### What does it cost to set up? Pricing is per facility and depends on the modules you switch on. Our setup cost calculator prices the devices, network and hosting in birr, and a demo gets you a quote. ## Cited research - [What actually drives outpatient satisfaction in Ethiopia](https://www.medicine.et/research/outpatient-waiting-and-satisfaction) — Pooled satisfaction with outpatient care in Ethiopian public hospitals is 61.95%. The meta-analysis findings are not what most clinics assume: getting all your prescribed drugs and having your privacy respected outweigh almost everything else. - [Missed appointments in Ethiopia are a clinical failure, not an empty chair](https://www.medicine.et/research/missed-appointments) — 39.2% of hypertensive patients in South Gondar follow-up clinics missed their appointments. In HIV care, 93% of patients lost to follow-up disappeared within six months. The Ethiopian evidence measures the harm, not the lost revenue. - [EMR in Ethiopia: adoption is not the hard part, use is](https://www.medicine.et/research/paper-to-emr-gap) — Roughly half the Ethiopian health workers who have an EMR in front of them use it. The evidence points squarely at training, manuals and management — not at software features — and the paper baseline being replaced is worse than most comparisons assume. - [The chronic caseload private clinics actually see](https://www.medicine.et/research/ncd-caseload) — Self-reported non-communicable disease in Addis Ababa runs at 11.5% of adults. Among Ethiopians already diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, pooled hypertension prevalence is 55%. This is recurring, appointment-driven care — the kind paper registers handle worst.