VA Health Records approach: big step ahead for all kinds of software development

The Dept of Vets Affairs runs VistA, which is one of the most effective, and widely-used electronic health record (EHR) systems in the world.

They need to increase the pace of VistA innovation, as health and information tech move ahead at accelerating rates. They took a hard look at how people make and buy software in public and private sectors, and realized that the open source approach really works.

So they are creating a private sector "custodial agent" (CA) to be the repository of the source code. The CA allows developers everywhere, and every place, to enhance and otherwise build on the source code, following a common set of rules for really easy access. The CA will ensure that new, innovative code works and plays well with existing code.