Latest News

Upcoming Open Source & Health IT Conferences – November/December 2013

The following are some upcoming Open Source & Health IT Conferences our readers at Open Health News (OHN) might be interested in attending in the coming months.

•  EHI live 2013
•  10th Annual Open Education Conference
•  AMIA 2013 Annual Symposium
•  mHealth Summit 2013  Read More »

McKinsey Global Institute Report on Unlocking the Value of 'Open Data'

The McKinsey Global Institute has just release a new report entitled, "Open data: Unlocking innovation and performance with liquid information." According to the report, 'Open Data' has great potential to empower citizens, change how government works, and improve the delivery of public services. It may also generate significant economic value, according to a new McKinsey report. Their report suggests that 'Open Data' can help unlock $3 trillion to $5 trillion in economic value annually across seven sectors of the global economy. Read More »

Expect an Upcoming Shake-up of Health IT Vendors in the Marketplace

Medical Economics just published their report listing the "The Top 100 EHR Companies in 2013".  It makes for very interesting reading. According to the report, best estimates by the government currently show over 700 companies that now offer 'certified' electronic health record (EHR) systems to healthcare providers. These companies range from publically-traded software companies to start-up enterprises - and everything in between. However, the future viability of these vendors and their EHR systems has become an issue. 'Open source' EHR alternatives may offer a low risk alternative to many of proprietary vendors on the list. Read More »

'Open Source' VistA Installations in Louisiana and other Mississippi Basin states

The installation and use of 'open source' electronic health record (EHR) systems has continued to spread across the U.S., including many of the states that border the Mississippi River. For example, see the following map of healthcare facilities running some variant of the open source world renowned VistA electronic health record (EHR) system. For the past year, Open Health News (OHN) has been working hard assembling data on VistA users around the world. The results will be released shortly in a Special Report aptly titled "VistA: The EHR of Record". Read More »

Sunlight Foundation helps shine a light on Obamacare Contractors

According to a recent article posted on the Sunlight Foundation web site, they recently reviewed contract award information from USASpending.gov and FedBizOpps.gov, and found 47 organizations that won contracts from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or the Treasury Department to manage, support or service the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Among them were top contractors like Northrop Grumman, Deloitte LLP, SAIC Inc., General Dynamics, CGI Group, and Booz Allen Hamilton. Read More »

Free Guide on "Contributing to OpenMRS" now available from FLOSS Manuals

“Contributing to OpenMRS: Getting Started as a Developer” is now available. This free book was created for people who are interested in joining the OpenMRS community as either a developer or user of this reknowned 'open source' Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. The book serves as a quick guide to learn more about the history of OpenMRS, what it does, and how the global OpenMRS community works. Read More »

VistA Expo 2013: LIve Report

The VistA Expo & Symposium got underway today in Seattle, Washington. VistA Expo is an annual conference focused on the 'open source' or public domain VistA electronic healthcare record (EHR) system aimed at users, executives, vendors, developers, and students. Some of the planned sessions at this year's VistA Expo & Symposium include... Read More »

Australia to follow New Zealand's lead on changes to software patent laws

The movement to pass new laws doing away with software patents continues to pick up steam. Following on the heels of action by the government of New Zealand to abolish software patents, the Open Source Industry Australia (OSIA) is urging the Australian government to do the same. In addition to New Zealand's recent ban on software patents, the European Union (EU) has been debating similar moves for more than a decade. Brazil, Russia, India and China are also beginning to get on board with the idea. Read More »

Latest 'Open Source' & eHealth News from Europe

The news just keeps coming about the widespread acceptance and increasingly rapid deployment and use of 'open source' software solutions by local and national government agencies in Europe. Federal, state, and local government agencies across the U.S. should pay close attention. Read More »

Roberts-Hoffman Neuron EHR Achieves ONC Certification

Roberts-Hoffman Software EHR has achieved 2011/2012 COMPLETE Inpatient  EHR ONC-ATCB Certification, which designates that the software is capable of supporting providers with Stage 1 meaningful use measures required to qualify for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Neuron Electronic Health Record was certified on May 3, 2012 under ICSA Labs’ ONC-ATCB Electronic Health Record program and is compliant in accordance with the criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Read More »