Hi, The local FOSS revolutionaries in Houston, TX have decided that it is time to restart hosting a conference/unconference focused exclusively on FOSS in healthcare. DOHCS http://www.dohcs.org/ is awesome, but there is only so much that you can accomplish in a single day. (BTW you need to register soon if you want to make DOHCS). We also feel that Californians should not be the only ones having all the fun. So I am happy to announce the FOSS Healthcare conference.
http://fosshealth.eventbrite.com/ The conference will be held here in Houston, TX the weekend of July 31st to August 2. We are trying to coordinate to have the WorldVistA conference at the same time/location, but for now that is up in the air. Early bird registration is really, really cheap. This is very intentional. I know that budgets are tight and travel is often the first thing to go. We are making early bird registration cheap enough that you might be able to fund the trip out-of-pocket if you are an individual contributor to a particular project. We also have limited "spare room" availability so if you want to go, but cannot afford a hotel, contact me offline ASAP. If I get an overwhelming response to this, I may need to change to bigger facilities. So really cheap early-bird registration has the added benefit of giving me a good early head count. Early-bird registration is just $60 bucks. You can SAVE TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS if you register early! I have invited every project that I could think of, but I know for a fact that FOSS in healthcare is much bigger than my meager contact list. If you work with or know of an open source project with serious impact in healthcare that might like to attend/present, please forward them this invitation! Here are the rules for project invitations: * You have to be actually using the software live to be considered for a project invitation. No disrespect to alpha projects, but our resources are limited and we have to favor mature projects. * Project leaders can get two free tickets to the conference, one for a guest and one for a speaker. The speaker should be ready to give a 10 minute summary talk on your project. * Please advertise this talk now on your own forums. The early-bird pricing, specifically for community members is only good for about a month. I have already gotten commitments to speak from people that I consider to be some of the top minds in FOSS healthcare. I can guarantee that if you are a Medical or IT professional you will get good talks on software that can make a difference in your world today. I am doing everything that I can think of to ensure that different projects will be able to cross-pollinate and grow. If you are not sure if you can go... it is worth $60 to reserve a spot... sign up today! -FT -- Fred Trotter http://www.fredtrotter.com