Baker: VA committed to open-source VistA

Members of the VistA community gave Roger Baker a standing ovation Tuesday after the assistant secretary for information technology at the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department told them—at least in part—what they've been waiting nine years to hear.

Baker said the VA is now fully committed to a proposed open-source development program to improve VistA, the VA's VistA electronic health-record system. 

"We're moving ahead," Baker said. "I think, for good or bad, we're moving ahead with open source for the VA." 

According to Baker, the path seemed clear after a fairly uneventful hearing May 11 before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. The relative calm, he interpreted, was an indicator that congressional opposition to the project may not materialize.