Indian Health Service (IHS)

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OSEHRA 2012 Open Source EHR Summit Opens to Capacity Audience - Live Blog

The 1st Annual Open Source EHR Summit & Workshop opened to a capacity audience of nearly 400 participants today at the Gaylord National Conference center at National Harbor in Maryland today This is the conference held by Open Source Electronic Health Records Agent (OSEHRA) organization, the custodial agent of the code for the U.S Department of Veteran's Affairs' (VA) open source VistA EHR. The conference has a packed agenda with more that 30 speakers. We will be blogging live from the conference with a few bits and pieces and will follow up with a more extensive set of articles later on.

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28th VistA Community Meeting to Feature Top VistA Leaders

Former VA CIO Roger Baker, Oroville Hospital CEO Robert Wentz, and the VA's current CIO, Stephen Warren, will be addressing the 28th Vista Community Meeting (VCM) in Sacramento, CA in what promises to be one most important conferences of the VistA community to date. The conference, which takes place January 17-19 at the UC Davis School of Medicine campus in Sacramento, CA, will feature a stellar cast of Health IT leaders. In addition to Baker, Wentz, and Warren, keynote conference speakers include Dr. Seong Ki Mun, Chairman of OSEHRA, Howard Hays, CIO of the Indian Health Service (IHS), Theresa Cullen, Chief Medical Informatics Officer (CMIO) of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Stephen Oxley, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Central Regional Hospital in North Carolina, and Denise LeFevre, CIO of Oroville Hospital.

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28th VistA Community Meeting: VistA Community Coming Together

Years of efforts dedicated to unifying the VistA community as well as VistA code development effort bore fruit during the 28th VistA Community Meeting (VCM) on January 17-19 in Sacramento, CA.  This year's conference became a transition to a closer collaboration between the VistA community, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the non-profit OSEHRA organization. In effect, the conference was more of a workshop where the participants briefed each other on the latest technical developments as well as strategic efforts to increase collaboration.

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29th VistA Community Meeting: Details of Upcoming Technical Conference

The upcoming 29th VistA Community Meeting (VCM), to take place June 2-4 at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, is shaping up as a breakthrough gathering of technical experts on VistA and community members. The conference is bringing senior leaders from several US Federal Government agencies, including the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Indian Health Service (IHS) together with technical leaders of the VistA community to collaborate on improving the VistA and RPMS EHRs.

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A Tale of Two Epidemics — HCV Treatment among Native Americans and Veterans

Brigg Reilley and Jessica Leston | The New England Journal of Medicine | August 31, 2017

In light of ongoing debates about health care budgets and rising drug prices, a current public health crisis can provide useful insights. For patients who get their health care through two separate federal agencies, the hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemic is unfolding in vastly different ways. In recent years, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system has mounted a response to HCV that should be the envy of any health system, public or private. On the other hand, the Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency that serves American Indians and Alaska Natives, is struggling to meet the needs of its patients with HCV...

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Alaska a Model for National VA

Senator Mark Begich | Fairbanks Daily News | June 29, 2014

I was disgusted in February when Republicans killed a bill that, among other provisions, would have opened more than two dozen new VA medical facilities to help a health system overburdened by the influx of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan...The terrible headlines of recent weeks tell us just how much we need those facilities, and why more resources are needed. Perhaps this time the full Senate will step up and vote to improve the VA system.

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American Indian Exceptionalism

Christopher Beam | Slate | September 18, 2012

Max Baucus' bill makes you pay a fine if you don't have health insurance—unless you're American Indian. Read More »

American Samoa Medical Center Authority Selects OpenVista as Public Health EHR

Press Release | Medsphere Systems Corporation | May 20, 2014

American territory will use VistA-based solution to meet Meaningful Use and support broad public health services for residents Read More »

Anatomy of a Public Health Open Source Project: HLN's Immunization Calculation Engine (ICE)

An immunization information system (IIS) aggregates immunization information for children (and some adults) living or receiving immunization services in a jurisdiction. One of the core components of an IIS is its immunization evaluation and forecasting system: the computerized algorithm that is used to determine if vaccine doses that were administered to the patient are clinically valid (evaluation) and to project what doses are due now and in the future (forecasting). These algorithms are used to support clinical decision support (CDS) at the point of care and also to help public health agencies understand and manage the immunization status of whole populations.

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Anatomy Of An Electronic Health Record Zero-Day

Kelly Jackson Higgins | Dark Reading | December 4, 2013

How a dangerous security flaw discovered in one of the most pervasive electronic medical record platforms in the U.S. was found and fixed before it could do damage Read More »

Case Study Demonstrates Efficacy of OpenVista for Behavioral Health

Press Release | Medsphere | April 14, 2016

Medsphere Systems Corporation...today announced the release of a case study focused on three inpatient behavioral health facilities that have implemented Medsphere’s OpenVista electronic health record (EHR). The integration of OpenVista into workflows and processes at Silver Hill Hospital, IntraCare North and The Recovery Center at EvergreenHealth Monroe has yielded clear benefits at each facility in terms of both patient care and the day-to-day experience of clinicians and staff. The clinicians at all three hospitals now have rapid access to more accurate and comprehensive patient records...

CAV Systems Announces Relational Database Replicator for FileMan MUMPS Databases

Press Release | CAV Systems | November 6, 2014

CAV Systems Ltd, a leading Israeli software company, recently completed development of FileMan Replicator, a software solution that creates and continuously updates a relational database replica of MUMPS databases, either Caché or GT.M,  that are managed by the FileMan Database Management System. Read More »

Data Management for Large-scale COVID-19 Immunization: This is all not as simple as it seems

There is a global race for the development of a vaccine for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Finding a vaccine that works and receives approval is only part of the process. There are a series of other steps that need to be taken so that the vaccine can be delivered. These include the mass production of the vaccine, shipment, administration and record-keeping. This may be even more complex as there may be several vaccines. In this article we review some of these issues with a particular focus on the United States.

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Detroit-Area Mental Health Clinics to Implement OpenVista Electronic Health Record

Press Release | Medsphere Systems Corporation | October 21, 2015

Medsphere Systems Corporation...today announced that the Behavioral Center of Michigan and Samaritan Behavioral Center, providers of inpatient behavioral health and related services in and around Detroit, will implement the company’s OpenVista® electronic health record (EHR). The Behavioral Center of Michigan, a 42-bed inpatient facility in the Detroit suburb of Warren, manages Samaritan, a 55-bed adult inpatient facility located in revitalizing Detroit. "The decision to go with OpenVista was based on both the reputation of VistA-based systems at VA and Indian Health Service hospitals and the success other Medsphere clients like Silver Hill Hospital have had with the system,” said Behavioral Center of Michigan CEO Ryan Gunabalan.

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Elections 2012: Missing From The Debate – The Indian Health System

Mark Trahant | Indian Country | October 2, 2012

There is one public health “system” in the United States. Its cost per patient is lower than the rest of the country. Some of the clinics and hospitals are models of what health care could be … and at the same time some of the clinics are substandard and represent the worst of what we think of as government-run health care. Read More »