COSI 'Open' Health

When looking to acquire a health IT system, the discussion often boils down to the question of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) versus Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) solutions.  The reality is that some form of Hybrid Open Source Software (HOSS) solution is probably what you should aim to acquire and implement. For example, in the healthcare arena there are a numerous great, high quality, and expensive COTS health IT solutions that you can acquire. If the software doesn't quite fit all your needs, you simply write the vendor a check to develop whatever else you need that they don't currently include in their product. The annual license and support contract also guarantees you will get the latest updates and needed fixes. Read More »

I've been following and reporting on 'open source' electronic health record (EHR) and/or electronic medical record (EMR) systems over the past decade. In the late 1990's and early years of the 21st century, there were several hundred open source EHR/EMR projects that were initiated and posted on sites like SourceForge, GitHub, GForge, Freshmeat, etc. Read More »

Like so many others, I wasn't about to read the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) or the details of the HITECH Act. Nor was I going to pay much attention to the political blather about 'Obamacare' being pushed by biased commentators or politicians over the airwaves. I have simply been waiting to actually see how it would roll out and impact me and my family. Read More »

I have been following Gijs Hillenius for the past year on several social media and news sites. He is a journalist with over 25 years of experience and is currently the news editor of the Open Source Repository & Observatory (OSOR). The focus of many of his posts is on the use of open source and open standards by national, regional, and local governments across the European Union (EU). Read More »

I don't know if you missed this news or not. I think it's pretty big news, especially for the 'Open Health' information technology (IT) community.

Quality Systems, Inc., acquired the Mirth Corporation on Sepetember 9, 2013. Their press release states that they "will maintain the Mirth brand identity, office, team, and products and will continue to market Mirth’s commercial solutions and serve as the hub for the Mirth Connect open-source community." Read More »

The Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent (OSEHRA) Summit was held this past week in Bethesda, Maryland.  The focus was on the use of the VistA electronic health record (EHR) and other open source solutions in healthcare. Read More »

America's Future: 2020-2050

Focused on the "Future of America" and the "American Dream" in the 21st Century

FYI – A Series of Blogs on the Evolving 'Open Revolution' & Movement Read More »

Apparently, we're coming up on the "8th Annual Health IT Week", September 16-20, 2013. That's great news – but it did surprise me. I've worked in the field of Health IT for almost 40 years and I just stumbled across Health IT Week. Read More »

EMR Direct, a leading developer of software for the secure exchange of Protected Health Information (PHI) over the Internet, today announced the integration of its phiMail Direct messaging platform with the latest production release of OpenEMR, enabling users of the open source electronic health record software to send and receive Direct messages through their EHR system... 

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The battle continues over the correct definitions of 'Free' and/or 'Open Source' Software (FOSS). For many readers who don't follow this issue closely, it's time to take another look at the subject.

According to the GNU organization and the Free Software Foundation (FSF),  'Free' Software is not about price – it's about liberty and freedom.. Read More »