openacu.net

What It Is

Open ACU is a scheduling and electronic health record system built specifically for acupuncture clinics. Its positioning is highly vertical: helping acupuncturists and community clinics manage appointments, patient information, and clinical records. The official website emphasizes that it was created collaboratively by acupuncturists, patients, and North American clinical staff. It features a modern, mobile-friendly interface and aims to reduce the operational burden on clinics.

Core Features and Integrations

Based on publicly available information, Open ACU’s core modules include a full scheduler, email reminders, email bounce/open tracking, unlimited health records, unlimited appointments, and unlimited patient management. Optional features include SMS appointment reminders, document uploads, and integrated credit card payments. For third-party integrations, it explicitly supports connecting a Stripe merchant account for clinic credit card payments; however, we did not find information about other integrations, an open API, or developer documentation.

Pricing and Trial

Pricing is straightforward: the basic account costs US$55/month and includes the main features. The first two locations are included in the base plan; each additional location costs US$10/month. Organizations with more than 8 locations need to contact the company for institutional pricing. Payment integration costs an additional US$10/month, and Stripe processing fees also apply. The official site does not mention a permanently free plan, but it offers a free, no-obligation demo and shares a demo account for users to try.

Security, Compliance, and Collaboration

Open ACU states that it is HIPAA-compliant and also meets ADA website accessibility requirements, which is important for healthcare-related software in the United States. However, the main website content does not disclose details on data encryption, backups, audit logs, role-based permissions, multi-user collaboration, or clinic team access management. Larger organizations should ask for more information before adopting it.

Pros, Cons, and Who It’s For

Its advantages are a strong industry focus, transparent pricing, unlimited core appointments and health records, mobile support, and basic compliance coverage. The downsides are limited public information about extensibility, few integrations beyond Stripe, extra fees for add-on features, and insufficient transparency around permissions and security details. It is better suited to small and mid-sized acupuncture clinics in North America, especially teams looking to replace generic scheduling tools and paper-based health records with a simple dedicated system.

Access from China and Alternatives

Information about access from mainland China, payment support, and local compliance is unknown. Since payments rely on Stripe, domestic clinics in China may face challenges with payment collection and compliance adaptation if they adopt it directly. For serving Chinese patients or local clinics, it is worth comparing local clinic management systems, appointment registration platforms, or international alternatives such as Jane App, SimplePractice, Cliniko, and Acuity Scheduling.