COSI 'Open' Health

I believe we have moved into a century of massive, global collaboration, innovation, and 'open' solutions. There is a revolution taking place in the high tech industry as we continue to move to open source solutions. In education and publishing we are moving to open copyright, open access, open knowledge, and open journals. We're seeing collaborative and 'open' news organizations, religious, and political movements. 'Open' health IT solutions and communities are proliferating. I think its very real, this period of 'open' revolution' on all fronts. I just haven't got a truly clear handle on what it really looks like, how it operates, and what its impact will be on us, our country, and our way of life.  But something big is afoot -  this is not just the Information Age, we've entered an Age of Open Revolution!

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Introduction

Over the past decade I've written numerous articles about many of the health information technologies (IT) and systems needed to support traditional medicine and preventative medicine practices, e.g. EHR, PHR, and HIE systems. With the emergence of the relatively new field of regenerative medicine, what type of health IT systems are going to be needed?

The growing field of regenerative medicine already encompasses so many fields from stem cell research, genetics, tissue engineering, bioengineering, organic human nanostructures, limb reconstruction, transplantation, and life extension research. This doesn't include the supporting fields of computer science, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, robotics, 3D imaging, and more. Regenerative medicine requires extensive collaboration between scientists working in all these various areas.

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On March 22, 2011, an article in the Nextgov news site reported that five members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation asked the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to consider using a single commercial system for their new electronic health records, a move that could benefit one of their state's largest employers, software company Epic Systems Corp. The VA quickly responded and said it plans to stick with the open source approach it has pursued so successfully in partnership with other public and private sector organizations over the past few decades.

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"Social networking" websites like Facebook are now being used regularly by hundreds of millions of people around the world to connect with each other. "Social commerce" web sites like Groupon have now emerged connecting consumers with local stores and national supply chains. What's next?  Look for next generation "social health" information web sites. Read More »

Over the years, Hawaii has given rise to a number of individuals and organizations that have played a key role in collaboratively developing and implementing innovative ‘open’ health IT initiatives. I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge them. Read More »

The following is a list of web sites of just a few of the many collaborative, 'open' public health IT projects, software products, services, or health information sources worth checking out. They are all available in the 'public domain' or as 'open source' solutions. Read More »

Having heard so many people using the terms "open systems", "open computing", and "open source" interchangeably, believing they all mean the same thing, it seemed appropriate to  write a short blog defining some of these terms and soliciting input on other 'open' terminology. Read More »