Hi Paul, The criminal behind CPT code license is AMA ( americal Medical Association) As far as I know, VITL has no code that it owns, it doesn't write any code or hire anyone to write code. I have no clue what their role is, an intermediary , may be, to funnel tax funds to GE ( IDX). I was naive to think that their role can be better served by helping/funding some of us, clean up , enhance some of the EMR FOSS out there to Vermont environment and have FOSS access to physicians in Vermont. They don't even have to fund these efforts except to stay out of the way and lend some support it thrive. I can only imagine the consequences if Greg farnum was as knowledgable about FOSS as some of us. You know it doesn't take much if you are honest about it. This has much to do with maintaining power base, politics etc.etc.
Whatever limited experience I have about these health systems is confined only to OpenEMR since I have successfully used it for about 4 years. Rest of the things I talk about is by extrapolations and active readings about other systems. I wish I had the time to really try out all the systems. Remember the constraint is time and not access to code. If you just want to install/run Vista there are all kinds of virtualization going on that I am sure it can run on vmware alone without any underlying operating system. I don't know what I am talking about except that I gathered this from my brother who works for EMC/Vmware. It's a steep learning care when things blow up or if you want some enhancements.That's where I think we need a good supply of mumps guys. I am sure they don't come cheap, it's not like hiring a college intern to do php, ruby, python , jave etc. under linux. -balu On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 11:27 PM, Paul Flint <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Dan and Balu, > > I have followed this VITL matter for months. Greg Farnum scares the > daylights out of me. > > On Fri, 16 Jan 2009, Balu Raman wrote: > > Please give some room for VITL, you don't have to follow me in my >> opinion. My opinion is formed by my dealings with them about 2 years >> back, when they were clueless about FOSS. Since then they may have >> seen the daylight for FOSS and may be in damage control mode and may >> have put up a page on FOSS on their web site. You will see there a >> letter to me from a Washington consultant, whom I did not contact or >> talk to. It's strange that they put that letter up there, just to show >> that they have considered FOSS. I still think they don't get it w.r.t >> FOSS, may be, they get the Free(as in free beer) part but not the Open >> part. They also do not know how a small practice is run. There's a >> difference between FAHC and a rural physician practice, the latter is >> preventive (and cognitive) and the former is after the fact. >> >> VITL is actively excluding access to their code base (something I believe > called CPT codes). Several local Vermont companies are frozen out of this > market by their big business exclusive practices. For a Non Government > Organization funded by Vermont Taxpayers this is inexcusable. > > With regards to Vista, I did play around with it, but I am dumb >> learning Mumps. Both Mumps and Unix are over 30 years old, but you >> don't see the elegance of Unix in Mumps. This is often expressed as >> programs written by engineers as computer scientists complain. If you >> have seen the original code for Spice (in fortran) you know what I >> mean. I don't know how many Mumps folks are still around. >> >> There are scores of Mumps-Vista folks. Their favorite tactic lately is > to to virtualize mumps and run Virtual Vista. The Veterans Administration > implementation is called Vista-VA. This is a study in itself. > > > I don't know if these things are relevant to VAGUE. Please be free to >> shut me up :-) >> - balu >> >> Balu do not stop! VAGUE needs a presentation!!!!! > > On 1/16/09, Dan Connelly <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Balu: >>> >>> I am withholding judgment on VITL (http://vitl.net/). The Vermont >>> alternative to VITL (and GE) is Fletcher Allen (and Epic). This puts >>> VITL on this side of the angels. >>> >>> There is some really sleazy history here... Rich Tarrant inclued. > > Sort of. Open vxVistA now becomes a litmus test on VITL, goodness or >>> evilness (maybe). Open vxVistA is big FOSS ball coming into VITL's >>> court. CCHIT certified, to an extent, since its commercial cousin has >>> some flavor of CCHIT approval (according to Fred Trotter's piece). >>> >>> Cetification is the most evil and excluding element in this whole dirty > game. FOSS sheds a bright light on this particular cockroach. > > http://www.dssinc.com/PressRelease.htm >>> >>> http://www.fredtrotter.com/2009/01/07/dss-frees-vxvista-changes-the-vista-game/ >>> >>> Personally, I have no experience with vxVistA. There is no code >>> release yet on Open Health Forge >>> (https://www.projects.openhealthtools.org/servlets/ProjectList). >>> >>> Questions to you or others with knowledge of vxVistA: >>> >>> 1. Is vxVistA a satisfactory package for Ambulatory EHR? >>> 2. Apparently commercial vxVistA has been adopted by the Veteran's >>> Administration. Anyone know if installed at the White River Jct >>> VA Hospital? >>> 3. If its decent for Ambulatory EHR, I assume you are advocating for >>> it at VITL. Are there Vermont groups that should also >>> advocate? Or, just DSS, since this package has a commercail >>> manifestation? >>> >>> -- Dan >>> >>> Meta discussion. Multi-platform virtual machines (e.g., Java, Mono, >>> Dalik) increasingly relegate our Unix chauvinism to a back burner. Not >>> to mention MS's Windows Services for Unix. Open vxVistA is >>> multi-platform. So is Apache. But I digress. >>> >>> >> > BTW anybody remember VISTA's predecessor called CHCS (Composite Health Care > System) it ran in a VT-100 environment? > > Kindest Regards, > > > > Paul Flint > (802) 479-2360 > > > /************************************ > Based upon email reliability concerns, > please send an acknowledgment in response to this note. > > Paul Flint > Barre Open Systems Institute > 17 Averill Street > Barre, VT > 05641 > > http://www.bosivt.org > http://www.flint.com/home > skype: flintinfotech > Work: (202) 537-0480 > Fax: (703) 852-7089 > > Consilium > gratuitum .~. > valet /V\ > quanti /( )\ > numerantur ^^-^^ >
