1. Jeez, Josh, I was just picking up on CNN (tongue-in-cheek-ly)
where they say that implementing digitized health records will be
horrendously expensive because "specialized labor is scarce".
2. RED FLAG for US programmers: They say you are scarce. They want
continued off-shoring because we don't exist.
3. But, as Josh notes, we do exist. Why, then, are there so few FOSS
frameworks for "Integrating the Healthcare Environment"
(http://www.ihe.net)? Its not rocket science, but it is
ego-tortured and perhaps a bit broken, as Balu says. HL7 is a
rolling, semi-cloased standard, and has been private club, with a
hefty membership fee. FOSS thrives on open, free standards.
Kaiser-Permanente, Epic, etc., not so much so. Okay, when I said
there was a "free market" in this arena, my tongue was again
cheekward.
4. There are aome interesting FOSS projects for IHE. Here are 3.
Where do they fit into Obama's stimulus plans?
1. The Mirth Project, don't laugh.
(http://www.mirthproject.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=56)
2. Eclipse OHF.
(http://www.eclipse.org/projects/project_summary.php?projectid=technology.ohf)
3. Open Health Tools. (http://www.openhealthtools.org/)
5. Lastly, have a look at Vermont Information Technology Leaders
(http://www.vitl.net/). There is a discussion there of Open
Source EHRs (Electronic Health Records).
Quote: "VITL will continue to investigate the potential of using
a FOSS solution in the future." Okay, folks, the future is now.
-- Dan Connelly
