open source EHR

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U.S. Peace Corps Adopts OpenEMR for use in 77 Countries World-wide

The U.S. Peace Corps recently awarded a five-year contract to EnSoftek to implement OpenEMR in its field offices around the world. OpenEMR is one of the most widely implemented electronic medical record (EMR) systems in the world with more than 15,000 installs around the globe and translations into 19 languages. The total solution will also includes Dynamics CRM, SharePoint, BizTalk, SQL Server, and other software applications and will be known collectively as PCMEDICS. Read More »

UC Davis Conducting Research Survey on What Motivates Open Health Developers

Mona Alsaffar, a health informatics graduate student at University of California-Davis is conducting a study about developers involved in healthcare open source projects. She contacted Open Health News for help in informing the open health community about the project.

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UK's Blackpool Teaching Hospitals selects open source electronic patient records

Press Release | Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, openMAXIMS CIC, IMS MAXIMS | January 7, 2016

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has selected an open source electronic patient record (EPR) called openMAXIMS from healthcare software provider IMS MAXIMS, to improve the recording and sharing of patient data across its hospital and community sites. The open source approach is expected to save the trust several million pounds in licence fees and future development costs, while also providing more control on how the software is developed in line with the hospital’s needs. Implementation started in December 2015 and once rolled out, Blackpool will become the third NHS trust to deploy the IMS MAXIMS open source EPR.

US Defense Think Tank Calls for DoD to Adopt the Open Source VistA EHR and Avoid Closed and Proprietary EHRs.

One of the most prestigious U.S. defense think tanks, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), issued a white paper Thursday calling on the Department of Defense (DoD) to replace their existing dysfunctional “vendor-lock” medical records system with an electronic health records system (EHR) that is "extensible, flexible and easy to safely modify and upgrade as technology improves and interoperability demands evolve." The white paper warns that a "closed and proprietary" commercial EHR - such as the ones offered by Epic, Cerner or Allscripts - will lead to "vendor-lock” and isolation of health data. Read More »

Using Open Technology To Build a Biodefense Against the Coronavirus

As the number of US cases of the coronavirus rises, how will healthcare professionals be able to tell the difference between which panicked patients with similar symptoms has what? Even if the patient hasn't traveled to Wuhan or China recently, what if they sat at a Starbucks with someone who did? With the incubation time-lag before symptoms appear, who would even know? The challenge of monitoring 330 million people for infectious disease outbreaks is daunting. Take the flu as an example. During the last flu season which, as already discussed, was not as complex as this year's season, approximately 35.5 million Americans had flu symptoms, 16.5 million received medical care, 490,600 were hospitalized and 34,200 died.

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VA CIO Stephen Warren on The State of Open Source at the VA

Stephen Warren, the acting VA CIO was recently interviewed on the topic of giving continuity to an open source initiative started by the previous CIO Roger Baker. The VA CIO oversees more than 8,000 IT professionals and manages an annual budget of $3.3 billion. When interviewed at WJLA in the ABC channel, Mr. Warren shared the following insights. Read More »

VA Releases Open Source Policy Memorandum

The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has just made public an executive policy memorandum that mandates a thorough evaluation of "Open Source Software (OSS) solutions when [the] VA acquires software." The policy also calls for the Federal agency to consider the use of open source "development practices when VA develops software." The release of this policy places the VA as the leader in government agencies innovating through the use of open source software.

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VA Requests Community Input on VistA 4 Product Architecture

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has asked OSEHRA to obtain comments from the open source community on the newly-updated VistA 4 Product Architecture Document (attached).  All members of the community are encouraged to review and comment on this critical document.

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VA Secretary McDonald Outlines Steps For VA Transformation at Institute of Medicine Annual Meeting

Press Release | US Department of Veterans Affairs | October 20, 2014

As the Nation’s foremost advisory body in medicine and healthcare, you know that the Department of Veterans Affairs is in the midst of overcoming problems involving access to healthcare. We own them, and we’re fixing them. But I know you also know that VA has a legacy of excellence, innovation, cutting-edge research, and achievements in healthcare delivery that is as broad and historically significant as it is profound—and often unrecognized. There’s something else. Right now, VA has before it perhaps its greatest opportunity to enhance care for Veterans in its history. Read More »

VA To Invest Billions in Open Source Transition

The open source strategy of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was the focus of the recent Open Source Think Tank Conference in Napa, California held April 12-14. This conference, sponsored by the Olliance Group and now on its 7th year, has become one of the premier open source gatherings in the world. Top IT leaders of the VA came to the conference to ask for the advice of the open source community in finalizing the VA's strategy for the future of its world-class electronic health record (EHR) system, VistA.

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VA's Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) Has Announced New Veteran-focused Integration Process (VIP)

The Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), has announced a new Veteran-focused Integration Process (VIP) to replace the Project Management Accountability System (PMAS) for the development and management of IT projects. The Veteran-focused Integration Process (VIP) is a Lean-Agile framework that services the interest of Veterans through the efficient streamlining of activities within the VA enterprise.  It is designed to increase the speed of delivery of high-quality, secure IT capabilities to Veterans. Read More »

Valley General Hospital Selects OpenVista Electronic Health Record

Press Release | Medsphere Systems Corporation | May 5, 2014

Northwest community-based hospital cites affordability, interoperability, proven track record in choosing Medsphere’s open EHR solution Read More »

VistA Academy 2013 - Leading Linux Expert to Teach Classes for Open Source EHRs

Press Release | The Linux ETC Company | September 11, 2013

Crawford Rainwater, leading expert on the use of Linux as a platform for open source electronic health records (EHR) systems, will be teaching Linux Essentials and Beginning Linux Systems Administration courses during the upcoming VISTA Academy 2013 in Seattle, WA, October 18-21. The VISTA Academy is part of an extensive VISTA Expo & Symposium 2013 conference focused on the award-winning VistA EHR developed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
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VistA Academy 2013 - Linux & Open Source EHR Training

Crawford Rainwater, leading expert on the use of Linux as a platform for 'open source' electronic health records (EHR) systems, will be teaching Linux Essentials and Beginning Linux Systems Administration courses during the upcoming VISTA Academy 2013 to be held on October 18-21 in Seattle, Washington. The VISTA Academy is part of a more extensive VISTA Expo & Symposium 2013 conference that is focused on the award-winning VistA electronic health record (EHR) system developed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Read More »

VistA and Epic: A Tale of Two Systems

Over the last few weeks, access to VA health care for veterans has been all over the news.  At the same time, the DoD is moving to procure a replacement EHR system.  So it seems there is no time like the present to review a recent RAND case studies report entitled “Redirecting Innovation in U.S. Health Care: Options to Decrease Spending and Increase Value.” The case studies include a chapter comparing America’s two most broadly deployed EHRs: The VA’s VistA and Epic.

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