Wall Street Journal suggests Open Source VistA as Solution

The VHA’s home-grown electronic healthrecord system is open source (through the Freedom of Information Act) and freely available to anyone who wants to download it from the VHA’s website. The Wall Street Journal has recently suggested it might be a viable solution for medical facilities seeking a lower cost alternative to proprietary EHRs. (Those of us VistA watchers have been saying this for a long time.)

Posted in Health Care IT |

This entry was posted by lobal on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Health Care IT. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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4 comments

 No.1 
Sharon:

Much in the same way Microsoft guards its proprietary software, commercial systems … are proprietary technology that don’t always allow them to easily talk to other vendors’ systems. By contrast, open source providers can share information freely and a worldwide network of software developers, WorldVistA, has emerged to offer new features, much like the community that supports the free Linux computer operating system. (emphasis added)

So is it official? Does being blessed by the WSJ mean that open source developers no longer hippie commie pinko nuts? :)

May 4th, 2009 at 1:02 am
 No.2 
Lorie:

I think this plus the fact you’re seeing a US Senator backing open source software is very exciting. They might also be reminded that the Europeans have been keen adopters of FOSS for years.

Is it truly gaining a sense of mainstream legitimacy? Perhaps, as long as they don’t get a look at Richard Stallman in his St. Ignutius getup - that might frighten them.

May 4th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
 No.3 
DT:

I think this plus the fact you’re seeing a US Senator backing open source software is very exciting. They might also be reminded that the Europeans have been keen adopters of FOSS for years.

Is it truly gaining a sense of mainstream legitimacy? Perhaps, as long as they don’t get a look at Richard Stallman in his St. Ignutius getup - that might frighten them.

October 5th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
 No.4 
Lorie:

DT, there are pockets of support and articles advocating the use of the VA’s VistA appear almost weekly.
http://www.ihealthbeat.org/Articles/2009/9/21/Cardiologists-Push-for-Widespread-Adoption-of-VAs-VistA-EHR-System.aspx

However, this is a very political landscape with much money to be made by proprietary vendors who can hire lobbyists.

October 5th, 2009 at 1:31 pm

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