OSCAR EMR

OSCAR EMR is a free, open-source, web-based electronic medical record created at McMaster University’s Department of Family Medicine for Canadian primary care. This page is for clinic managers and IT staff who search for “OSCAR EMR” or an OSCAR EMR download and wonder whether it suits a dental office. The short answer: there are no “OSCAR Pro Dental Templates”, no odontogram and no dental billing in OSCAR. It is a family-medicine and specialist EMR.

Two names get mixed up. OSCAR EMR (OSCAR 19 is the current open-source line) is GPL software you can host yourself. OSCAR Pro is a separate commercial EMR offered by WELLSTAR Technologies, a WELL Health company, and is not open-source software you download. In August 2026 the OSCAR community site announced the end of maintenance for OSCAR 19 and named CARLOS EMR, an open-source successor, as its replacement.

OSCAR EMR at a glance

What it does

• Patient registration and rostering for capitation or fee-for-service practices.
• Scheduling with customisable provider and group views.
• Electronic charting built around a Cumulative Patient Profile.
• Prescribing with drug-interaction checks, renal dosing hints and allergy alerts.
• Electronic lab results imported by HL7; scanned imaging reports and consultation notes.
• Provincial billing integrations (for example Ontario MCEDT and BC MSP Teleplan) plus third-party billing.
• eForms: customisable electronic forms and templates, with a shared library on the community site.
• Tickler reminders, disease registry, chronic-disease tools, secure messaging and fax integration.

How dental teams use it

OSCAR has no tooth chart, no dental procedure codes and no dental imaging integration. Realistic uses are limited.

Medical history for a hospital or community dental clinic

1. Where a community health centre already runs OSCAR, give the dental team access to medication lists, allergies and relevant medical history.
2. Record dental referrals and replies as consultation notes or scanned documents.
3. Keep charting and dental billing in a dedicated dental system.

A simple dental intake eForm

1. Build an eForm with fields for dental complaint, last dental visit and medical alerts.
2. Add it to your OSCAR eForm library and test it on a demo patient.
3. Treat it as a questionnaire only; it does not create structured tooth data.

Install and first run

• Server: the community guides install OSCAR 19 on 64-bit Ubuntu LTS with OpenJDK, Tomcat and MariaDB (the Ubuntu 20.04 guide specifies OpenJDK 11, Tomcat 9 and MariaDB 10.3), then the OSCAR deb package with an interactive installer that can load demo data.
• Hardware: the guide gives a 3 GB RAM minimum and recommends 8 GB for one to three providers, with full-disk encryption.
• Access: OSCAR is served over HTTPS on port 8443 at the /oscar path; users need only a browser, so Mac and Windows workstations work equally well.

Gotchas: follow the listed component versions exactly, because deviations cause problems; change the default demo login immediately; and note that Ubuntu 20.04 is out of support and the OSCAR 19 instructions are now marked deprecated in favour of CARLOS EMR.

Limitations

• No dental features at all, and billing is built for Canadian physician tariffs.
• OSCAR 19 maintenance has been suspended; the community warns of unfixed security issues and advises planning migration.
• Self-hosting a clinical system requires Linux, security and backup expertise.
• OSCAR Pro, the maintained commercial variant, is not free and is also not a dental product.

OSCAR EMR vs alternatives

CARLOS EMR is the named open-source successor for OSCAR 19 users (GPL v2; still in alpha releases in September 2026). Among other open-source records, GNUmed is actively maintained and self-hosted, NOSH ChartingSystem is a lighter web EHR but dormant, and LibreHealth EHR has had no release since 2017. For tooth charting, choose dedicated dental software instead of any of them.

FAQ

Is there a free OSCAR EMR download?

Yes. OSCAR 19 is open source; community-built Debian/Ubuntu packages and archived code are published on the OSCARMcMaster SourceForge project, with installation guides on the community documentation site.

Is OSCAR Pro open source?

No. OSCAR Pro is a commercial EMR from WELLSTAR, part of WELL Health, that grew out of the open-source OSCAR community. Only OSCAR EMR is GPL.

How does the OSCAR EMR login work?

Each clinic runs its own server, so staff log in at their clinic’s own OSCAR address with a username, password and PIN. There is no central OSCAR login for all clinics.

Where can I find OSCAR EMR training?

The community site oscargalaxy.org and the OSCAR manual at oscarmanual.org host installation guides and knowledge-base articles. Both are free to read online.

OSCAR EMR vs Accuro: which is better?

Accuro EMR is a commercial Canadian EMR from QHR Technologies; OSCAR EMR is free open source you host yourself. Neither is dental software, so the choice depends on your province, budget and IT support.

How do I install OSCAR EMR?

Install a supported Ubuntu LTS server, the listed Java, Tomcat and MariaDB versions, then the OSCAR 19 deb package, following the community guide step by step.

Does OSCAR EMR have an API?

OSCAR supports HL7 lab import and integrations used by provincial systems. For new API projects, check the current CARLOS EMR documentation, since OSCAR 19 is no longer maintained.

Last checked against official sources: 29 September 2026 (developer website: oscargalaxy.org). Versions and licence terms change — confirm on the developer's site before deploying in a clinic.