Advances, Setbacks, and Continuing Impediments to Government Transparency

Andy Oram | O'Reilly Radar | June 16, 2011

I heard yesterday about the good, the bad, and the edgy in open government at Computers, Freedom & Privacy, being held this week in Washington, DC. A panel that covered open meetings laws and social networking started with a summary by Andy Wilson of Public Citizen Texas of how Utah and Texas trended in different directions. Read More »

A Meaningful Hurdle the VA Still Hasn't Crossed

Joseph Conn | ModernHealthcare.com | July 6, 2011

What has a small band of open-source programmers and a handful of health information technology vendors accomplished that the massive U.S. Veterans Affairs Department has not? Read More »

FabFi: An Open Source Wireless Network Built With Trash

Lori Mehen | OpenSource.com | July 5, 2011

For those fed up with political repression, there is a new, simple, low-tech way around this. Bypass these entities completely and set up an alternative, more open Internet that cannot be intercepted or shut down...And the main components can be built out of trash. Read More »

Open Source Helps Spokane Data Exchange Pilot Go Live In Record Time

The use of open source software made it possible to deploy the fourth data exchange pilot between the Department of  Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Defense (DoD), and private sector medical facilities in record time. The Spokane Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) went live less than eight weeks after the start of the project. The VLER is intended to provide seamless access to the medical record of veterans and military personnel irregardless of where they receive medical treatment. Read More »

Seven Open Source EHRs Certified To Date

The open source community is in a roll when it comes to official certification for open source EHR's. With the announcement today that WorldVistA EHR has been certified for "meaningful use" as an inpatient EHR, there are now a total of six seven certified EHRs in either the ambulatory or the inpatient categories. Some of the open source EHR's have been certified in both categories. 

Read More »

WorldVistA EHR Receives Meaningful Use Certification

The open source WorldVistA EHR has just received full meaningful use certification as an electronic health record (EHR) in inpatient settings. The detailed certification criteria can be seen here. WorldVistA EHR is a community-supported version of the VA's world-class VistA EHR. Read More »

VA Will Allow More Mobile Devices Oct. 1

Mary Mosquera | Government Health IT | June 30, 2011

The Veterans Affairs Department expects on Oct. 1 to let clinicians in its hospitals and other employees use mobile devices, likely Apple’s iPhone among others, once they are verified as secure and that any personal information stored on them is encrypted. Read More »

VA to Open Network to Popular Mobile Devices

Alice Lipowicz | Federal Computer Week | July 1, 2011

The Veterans Affairs Department expects to enable employees to use iPhones, iPads, Androids and other popular mobile devices on the departmental network by Oct. 1, VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker has announced. Read More »

VA Begins Implementation of Open Source EHR

VA recently announced that we’ve taken a big step in the implementation of the open source software model for VistA: the selection of The Informatics Application Group (tiag), an innovative technology services company, to design and launch the Custodial Agent. Over the next several months, we will be working closely with tiag and their partners to create a Custodial Agent to provide structure for the community. One of the primary functions of the CA is to take care of the EHR: to make sure that it is freely available (like it is today), that new components are compatible with the existing software, and that the open source software licenses promote innovation and access. To accomplish this, the CA will maintain a code repository that contains all of the software–the code VA uses as well as new components we may consider–and, importantly, is universally accessible.
Read More »

VA Awards $12 Billion Umbrella Technology Contract to 14 Companies

Bob Brewin | NextGov | July 1, 2011

The Veterans Affairs Department on Thursday awarded 14 contracts, potentially worth $12 billion, to transform VA's information technology. Department officials evaluated more than 90 bids for the Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology procurement, which was issued in April 2010. Read More »