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Obama and Biden Blast EHR Vendors for Data Blocking

As they are winding their terms in office, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden dropped a stink bomb on the health IT industry. Speaking at different events on Friday, January 9th, the President and Vice President both criticized proprietary electronic health record (EHR) vendors as the primary obstacle to the success of their administration’s health care strategy. This is the highest level acknowledgment so far of the serious impact that “lock-in” EHR software vendors are having on America’s medical infrastructure and the ability of physicians to provide medical care.

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Open Source EHRs: Will They Support Clinical Data Needs of the Future? (Part 2 of 2)

Andy Oram | EMR & EHR | November 18, 2014

The first part of this article provided a view of the current data needs in health care and asked whether open source electronic health records could solve those needs. I’ll pick up here with a look at how some open source products deal with the two main requirements I identified: interoperability and analytics. Interoperability, in health care as in other areas of software, is supported better by open source products than by proprietary ones. Read More »

Open Source Electronic Health Records For Education And Training

In spite of being very involved in the field of Health Informatics I only recently became aware of VistA for Education (VFE), which has all of the aforementioned attributes of an  excellent solution for EHR education purposes. VFE was developed as a result of a grant from the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) to supplement the ONC Health Information Technology (HIT) curriculum. Electronic health records (EHRs) are more than just the electronic equivalent of paper-based health records. Electronic health data is easier to search, share and archive, compared to paper records. Additionally, EHRs can be embedded with clinical decision support to alert and remind physicians of patient safety and preventive medicine measures.

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OSEHRA 2012 Summit A Great Success

The 1st Annual Open Source EHR Summit held this week at the Gaylord National Conference Center at National Harbor, just outside Washington D.C., was well attended by over 400 participants. The event was a huge success and many of the participants openly voiced the belief that this effect will be seen as the tipping point for open source in healthcare. It was "unbelievably cool" according to one of the participants, Todd Park, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the U.S. Government.

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OSEHRA 2014 Summit to Rock EHR World

The world of electronic health records (EHRs) is going to be rocked next month as the Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance (OSEHRA) holds its third annual summit in Bethesda, Maryland. After four years of quietly building a organization to promote VistA and open source in healthcare, as well as a central host for the core VistA code, OSEHRA is now emerging as a major force in the world of EHRs. The conference has become a gathering place for not just the VistA community but for major health IT players in the federal government, including the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and Indian Health Service (IHS), and major forces in the open health field. The three-day conference will feature more than 120 speakers addressing 90 separate sessions. Read More »

OSEHRA 2015: Preliminary Agenda Open Source Summit Released

The 2015 Open Source Summit: Community-Powered Healthcare IT Solutions is shaping up to be another exciting event that will showcase the remarkable achievements of our growing community!  The Summit offers a unique perspective on healthcare IT innovation in the U.S. and global markets, as well as an opportunity to network with the individuals and companies who are making it happen...Further, the OSEHRA community is expanding beyond its VistA-centric origins. This year, in collaboration with Open Health News, a diverse panel of open source community leaders has been formed to exchange ideas, expertise, and business opportunities. Read More »

OSEHRA 2015: Registration Opens for Open Source Summit

Press Release | OSEHRA, DSS, Inc. | February 2, 2015

The Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance (OSEHRA) is pleased to announce that registration for its 2015 Open Source Summit: Community-Powered Healthcare IT Solutions, to occur July 29-31 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, is now available. “In its fourth year, we are delighted that our annual Summit has grown exponentially in both size and significance,” said Dr. Seong Ki Mun, President of OSEHRA. “With an impressive technical program, respected plenary speakers, and unfettered access to open source leaders, the 2015 Summit is certain to draw a diverse and enthusiastic community of participants.”

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OSEHRA 2015: Summit Sponsors for Open Source Summit Announced

Press Release | OSEHRA | July 27, 2015

The Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance (OSEHRA) is excited to announce the confirmed sponsors for the 2015 Open Source Summit: Community-Powered Healthcare IT Solutions to be held July 29-31 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Sponsors for the 4th Annual Summit include...

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OSEHRA 2015: VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald to Keynote Open Source EHR Summit

Press Release | OSEHRA | June 8, 2015

The Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance (OSEHRA) is pleased to announce that the Honorable Robert A. McDonald, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, will serve as the keynote speaker for its fourth annual summit, entitled Community-Powered Healthcare IT Solutions. Secretary McDonald will speak on the morning of July 30 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center. “We are honored to have Secretary McDonald address our community,” said LTG (ret.) James B. Peake, M.D., Chairman of the OSEHRA Board of Directors and former U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs. “OSEHRA was established by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in 2011 to foster innovation and serve as a hub of open source EHR activity. As we approach our fourth anniversary, the VA and the entire open source community are seeing the fruits of that initiative. We are pleased to welcome the Secretary, and are grateful for VA’s continued support of open source.”

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OSEHRA 2015: Zoeticx CEO to Speak during Open Health Panel at the Open Source Summit

Press Release | Zoeticx | July 26, 2015

Thanh Tran, CEO of Zoeticx will speak as a member of the Open Health panel discussion on Wednesday, July 29, at the upcoming OSEHRA Open Source Summit. His participation on the panel will be followed by a more extensive presentation on the topic of “Healthcare Open Access Architecture” to take place during one of the breakout sessions. The OSEHRA Summit, now in its 4th year, has become the leading conference addressing issues of open solutions, open source, collaboration, transparency, and innovation in healthcare information technology. The conference will take place at the Bethesda Marriott North Hotel and Conference Center in Maryland from July 29 to the 31st. Keynote speaker at the conference will be Robert A. McDonald, Secretary of the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

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OSEHRA 2016 Summit to Address Global Open Health IT Issues as well as the Future of VistA, eHMP and the VA's Veteran's Centric Strategy

The 2016 OSEHRA Summit to be held June 27-29 is sixty days away, and we are very excited about the way it has come together...We will open the Summit on Monday afternoon with the Global Open Health Informatics Workshop. There we will hear about the progress of many programs, including those in India, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Slovenia and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. This workshop will also address technical issues supporting the global deployment of open source EHRs.

OSEHRA 2016: Former VA CIO Roger Baker Joins Board of Open Source Organization

Press Release | OSEHRA | September 28, 2016

The Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance (OSEHRA) announced today that Roger Baker, former Assistant Secretary and Chief Information Officer at the U.S. Department of Veterans of Affairs...joined the OSEHRA Board of Directors. Baker, a visionary in the health IT community and long-time supporter of OSEHRA, will begin his three-year term in October. Baker was elected to the Government Directorship on the Board of Directors by the OSEHRA Community.  “It is an honor to serve in this capacity,” said Baker. “I am excited to join such a forward-thinking organization where I will continue to dedicate my efforts to the promotion and widespread adoption of open source.”

OSEHRA 2017: Microsoft, OpenStack, IBM Support VistA in the Cloud

This year’s OSEHRA 2017 Open Source Summit proved to be another major milestone in the transition from locked-in vendor-controlled health information technology to an open solutions approach. One of the major news stories at the summit was the decision by Microsoft to join OSEHRA and collaborate with the Open Health community. Another major presentation was that of Martin Rice, Director of the Division of State System for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Clyneice Chaney, Principal Systems Engineer. In their presentation (video* and PowerPoint*), Rice and Chaney described how CMS is transitioning to an open/modular approach to State Medicaid IT systems.

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OSEHRA 2018 - Most Diverse Open Source EHR Summit to Date

Press Release | OSEHRA | July 11, 2018

This year's three-day OSEHRA Open Source Summit promises to be the most diverse ever, highlighting open source initiatives across a dozen Federal and State agencies, and showcasing industry progress in key areas such as emerging hybrid proprietary/open source interoperability solutions and synthetic patient data generation...This year's agenda includes a combination of engaging track sessions, town-hall discussion, and plenary events. The content will be exceptionally diverse, including: An interoperability platform demonstration drawing healthcare data from multiple health record systems; A demonstration of synthetic patient data generation, including the first public demonstration of tailored synthetic data being loaded into the open source VistA Electronic Health Record (EHR) via a new open source data loader...

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OSEHRA 2018 Leadership Award Recipients Recognized

Press Release | OSEHRA | August 1, 2018

OSEHRA recently announced this year’s 2018 Leadership Award recipients during our 7th Annual Open Source Summit. The OSEHRA community chose to honor four distinguished individuals based on their outstanding achievements in health information technology and contributions to innovative health care. Awardees were selected via a community nomination and election process. We would like to extend a thank you to the 2018 Awards Committee for its due diligence and commitment to the community. The Committee was co-chaired by Dr. Jack Taylor of InforMD, Inc. and Keith McCall of KRM Associates, Inc.

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