Re: Greenbelt, MD meeting; VistA rollout plan template

[DavidR5317]

John et al:

  <<Then I guess I'm somewhat surprised that the US government isn't
actively solving the health information technology problem that has
been so eloquently described on numerous occasions ("one jumbo jet
crashing every day") with the lowest cost, best piece of software for
the job.� After all, if the government pays for healthcare, it can also
actively exert control over its quality.>>

Forgive me if this has already been answered on this list.  You assert that VistA is the best piece of sofware for the job (especially well suited for addressing the patient safety issues).  What is the basis for this claim?  Can you point me to the studies that have been done and published that support this assertion?

Just out of curiosity, can anyone from the VA disucss the total life cycle costs for the development and maintenance of VistA and point me to the Return on Investment Analysis for the system and what the current ROI is calculated to be?  If we are to make a strong business case for the use of open source in general and VistA in particular then this kind of data is very useful. 

Thanks

DaveR