Will Open Source Architecture Help Win the DOD EHR Contract?

The Department of Defense’s solicitation for a new EHR infrastructure has put $11 billion up for grabs, and the large-scale contract has attracted interest from some of the biggest names in the EHR market.  Each team is bringing something a little bit different to the table in regards to expertise and vision for the lengthy, complex project.  While interoperability is a top concern for everyone involved in the bidding, there’s more than one way to achieve it.

PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC), DSS, MedSphere, and General Dynamics Technology are betting on the power of open source architecture to help their team impress the DOD’s selection committee.  By combining commercially successful applications with code maintained by the Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance (OSEHRA), the team hopes to bring innovation and flexibility to its offering.

Daniel Garrett, Leader of PwC’s Healthcare IT Practice, sat down with EHRintelligence to discuss some of the challenges and opportunities of translating lessons learned from commercial EHR software into a viable option for the military health system’s wide-ranging upgrades...