VA's RFI Seeks Open-Source VistA Development Ecosystem

If the Veterans Affairs Department chooses to update its legacy VistA  electronic health records system with open source development, the VA still would retain certification authority of any applications for its medical centers, Roger Baker, VA chief information officer and assistant secretary for information and technology, said today.

He added that VA also is likely to retain some legacy code. The VA recently published a Request for Information for a custodial agent — most likely a vendor — to operate an open-source ecosystem for modernizing VistA.

As Baker sees it, the VA would become a “large participant” in the mostly private sector ecosystem, but would retain certain authorities. “We are looking at open source models, and starting to develop a concept of how an open source ecosystem might work,” Baker said.

And that includes going to industry for their expertise, he added. “If there is one thing we know, it is that we are not the experts in how to do an open source product and make it work,” Baker said.

Under such a system, VA would continue to be the “tester and certifier of any product that goes into our hospitals,” he said, adding that the VA also is likely to retain some of its legacy MUMPs code that has been operating its VistA digital medical system.