Latest Blog Posts

OHNews 2013 Readers Choice: Most visited links to 'Open Access' Publications

As we head towards the end of the year, the global 'Open Health' movement continues to grow and strengthen. Based on the number of hits by our Open Health News (OHNews) readers on links to 'Open Access' health informatics and medical publications (e.g. Read More »

OHNews 2013 Readers Choice: Most visited 'Open Data' sources of Health Information

As we head towards the end of the year, the global 'Open Health' movement continues to grow and strengthen. Each month, the number of new 'open data' web sites and resources increases. Read More »

OHNews 2013 Readers Choice: 'Open Source' Health IT Systems

As we head towards the end of the year, the global 'open source' software movement continues to grow and strengthen, especially in the field of healthcare. Based on the number of hits by readers of Open Health News (OHNews) on links to our brief profiles of 'open source' Health IT systems, the following are their top choices of interest over the past year: Read More »

Who is spying on you? And do you care?

Several of our interns and younger editorial staff at Open Health News (OHN) have made a point of collecting and posting news clips about NSA and government spying on web sites. Read More »

Selected Articles about Open Source & Business

The following are a series of selected news articles, feature stories, and blogs about Business & 'Open Source' activities and solutions that have been posted on Open Health News (OHN) over the past couple of years. . Read More »

Have you tried a MicroPC-on-a-Stick?

Do you call it a Miniature PC, MiniPC, MicroPC, Matchbox PC, NetTop PC, or what? My favorite is MicroPC-on-a-Stick. Whatever popular name finally sticks, the MicroPC is starting to slowly make its mark. Read More »

COTS, FOSS, or HOSS Solutions?

When looking to acquire a health IT system, the discussion often boils down to the question of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) versus Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) solutions.  The reality is that some form of Hybrid Open Source Software (HOSS) solution is probably what you should aim to acquire and implement. For example, in the healthcare arena there are a numerous great, high quality, and expensive COTS health IT solutions that you can acquire. If the software doesn't quite fit all your needs, you simply write the vendor a check to develop whatever else you need that they don't currently include in their product. The annual license and support contract also guarantees you will get the latest updates and needed fixes. Read More »

My Updated 2013 List of 'Open Source' Electronic Health Record (EHR) Systems

I've been following and reporting on 'open source' electronic health record (EHR) and/or electronic medical record (EMR) systems over the past decade. In the late 1990's and early years of the 21st century, there were several hundred open source EHR/EMR projects that were initiated and posted on sites like SourceForge, GitHub, GForge, Freshmeat, etc. Read More »

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the HITECH Act continue to be rolled out

Like so many others, I wasn't about to read the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) or the details of the HITECH Act. Nor was I going to pay much attention to the political blather about 'Obamacare' being pushed by biased commentators or politicians over the airwaves. I have simply been waiting to actually see how it would roll out and impact me and my family. Read More »

VistA and Emerging Business Opportunities ... $48.7 Million Empire State Award & 'Open Source' Health IT Market

Colleagues, Do I detect momentum? In recent months we have witnessed;

    The DoD MEDICS RFI in which 3 to 4 VistA based solutions appear to viable procurement options ... Read More »

European Union (EU) Joinup Web Site

I have been following Gijs Hillenius for the past year on several social media and news sites. He is a journalist with over 25 years of experience and is currently the news editor of the Open Source Repository & Observatory (OSOR). The focus of many of his posts is on the use of open source and open standards by national, regional, and local governments across the European Union (EU). Read More »

Mirth Systems Acquired by Quality Systems

I don't know if you missed this news or not. I think it's pretty big news, especially for the 'Open Health' information technology (IT) community.

Quality Systems, Inc., acquired the Mirth Corporation on Sepetember 9, 2013. Their press release states that they "will maintain the Mirth brand identity, office, team, and products and will continue to market Mirth’s commercial solutions and serve as the hub for the Mirth Connect open-source community." Read More »

OSEHRA 2013 Summit Shines, even as DoD Shuns the Summit

The Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent (OSEHRA) Summit was held this past week in Bethesda, Maryland.  The focus was on the use of the VistA electronic health record (EHR) and other open source solutions in healthcare. Read More »

The 'Open' Revolution & America's Future

America's Future: 2020-2050

Focused on the "Future of America" and the "American Dream" in the 21st Century

FYI – A Series of Blogs on the Evolving 'Open Revolution' & Movement Read More »

National Health IT Week

Apparently, we're coming up on the "8th Annual Health IT Week", September 16-20, 2013. That's great news – but it did surprise me. I've worked in the field of Health IT for almost 40 years and I just stumbled across Health IT Week. Read More »

Direct Project Secure Email powered by phiMail™ available for OpenEMR

EMR Direct, a leading developer of software for the secure exchange of Protected Health Information (PHI) over the Internet, today announced the integration of its phiMail Direct messaging platform with the latest production release of OpenEMR, enabling users of the open source electronic health record software to send and receive Direct messages through their EHR system... 

Read More »

Further defining 'Free' and/or 'Open Source' Software

The battle continues over the correct definitions of 'Free' and/or 'Open Source' Software (FOSS). For many readers who don't follow this issue closely, it's time to take another look at the subject.

According to the GNU organization and the Free Software Foundation (FSF)'Free' Software is not about price – it's about liberty and freedom.. Read More »

Open Source Space Satellites Launched

This news story in NewScientist by Lisa Grossman caught the attention of a lot of people this week – "Space station poised to launch open-source satellites". Read More »

'Open Data' can help protect our Cities, Citizens, and Workers

I was recently reading a blog by Thomas Papagiannis on "Open Data and Financial Crisis", particularly with regards to cities.  It was a timely piece given the recent issue of Time Magazine on the bankruptcy of Detroit and a growing number of other cities across the U.S. Read More »

To Tax, or not to Tax - that is the question

There was an article published in the European Commiission's 'Joinup' news site entitled "Greek advocacy protests hospital's banning of open source".  The story caught my attention Read More »

Any Benefits of Using 'Pinterest' for Open Health?

I finally got around to checking out Pinterest and seeing how it could be used for my business and professional interests. Check out my 'Open Health' Pinterest page http://pinterest.com/pjgroen/pins/ Read More »

HealtheGames - 2013 Update

Here's a quick 2013 update on the topic of computer games in healthcare - HealtheGames. It's a thriving business – with hardware and software sales well over $60 billion this year. Read More »

Most popular Hot News items posted on OHNews so far this year

The following are 10 of the more popular Hot News items posted on Open Health News (OHN) so far in 2013, based on the number of people who viewed these articles. Read More »

Most popular OHNews Feature Stories & Blogs so far this year

The following is a list of the most popular Feature Stories posted on Open Health News (OHN) to date in 2013, based on the number of people who viewed them. Read More »

Lessons Learned from Implementations of 'Open' EHR Systems

The following are some of the key 'lessons learned' from various case studies about the acquisition and implementation of VistA and other 'open source' Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems in hospitals and clinics across the U.S. and around the world.  These lessons can be applied to almost any major EHR acquisition and implementation projects, whether it be in the public or private sector.

Read More »