Transforming Healthcare through Open Source
Transforming Healthcare through Open Source
Despite evidence that clinical systems can help improve care, save lives, reduce costs and increase revenue, the unfortunate fact is that in 2008, only 15 percent of health organizations use advanced clinical systems and electronic medical records. Furthermore, 85 percent of hospitals, ambulatory clinics and physician office practices have yet to automate their care processes. Why? The answer lies not in technology offerings, but in the proprietary, closed software business model that fails to service adequately the mainstream health care marketplace.
The Open Source business and development model, on the other hand, offers health care an opportunity to transform itself and deployments now live across the country support this hypothesis. This session will explore how the acceptance of the open source business model across other industries -- from Linux, Redhat, MySQL and Jboss just to name a few -- have resulted in more affordable, more stable, more secure and more customizable software systems now being leveraged for healthcare. The session will go on to examine the standard-bearer in open source healthcare IT, the Veterans Administration's clinical open source information system and electronic health record (EHR), called VistA, and how this technology has helped take the VA's health system from "Worst to First" in quality healthcare. A proven, successful and highly interoperable system developed over the course of more than 20 years, VistA has been used by close to 65 percent of all physicians during their VA training rotations. Finally, this session will introduce attendees to new, commercially-supported and enhanced solutions based on VistA, released in open source and now available to healthcare organizations across the country, as well as examples of hospitals using this technology and the benefits experienced.
<< Back to Sessions The Open Source business and development model, on the other hand, offers health care an opportunity to transform itself and deployments now live across the country support this hypothesis. This session will explore how the acceptance of the open source business model across other industries -- from Linux, Redhat, MySQL and Jboss just to name a few -- have resulted in more affordable, more stable, more secure and more customizable software systems now being leveraged for healthcare. The session will go on to examine the standard-bearer in open source healthcare IT, the Veterans Administration's clinical open source information system and electronic health record (EHR), called VistA, and how this technology has helped take the VA's health system from "Worst to First" in quality healthcare. A proven, successful and highly interoperable system developed over the course of more than 20 years, VistA has been used by close to 65 percent of all physicians during their VA training rotations. Finally, this session will introduce attendees to new, commercially-supported and enhanced solutions based on VistA, released in open source and now available to healthcare organizations across the country, as well as examples of hospitals using this technology and the benefits experienced.