RHIOs are all about collaboration, right? All manner of healthcare entity getting together to "do the RHIO thing". Well, FOSS is about collaboration too. We get together, talk about what's needed, build it, and then share it. I know of 3 RHIOs who presently employ developments paid for by my federal grant money. I count 2 RHIOs whose developments we've utilized to spring from, not to mention the NHIN round 1 grant money.

There are some unfortunate stereotypes that OSS is just garageWare. Let folks know that many of the developers involved in these FOSS projects are well respected, robust and mature organizations, like the RAND corporation or Fujitsu or see also Wikipedia on Open Source Development Lab.

One way to introduce the idea of FOSS is to start by using it as part of the proof of concept. We were able to put together a small demonstration project for much less than committing to a proprietary system. The agreement has always been that if we should decide that there is some other tool we would like to move to in the future, we can do that. The initial investment would be well worth the learning points and will allow us to better asses what we're looking for in a system that will cost hundred of thousands of dollars a year to maintain. That is of course, if the FOSS system doesn't work out for us. (so far we have decided to stay with the FOSS system).

In addition to talks, if you belong to one of those CIO colleges, or associations, don't be afraid to speak up on FOSS. I have a CIO from one of my hospital systems who didn't want to go the OSS route because the fellows from his CIO group-of-choice insisted that OSS [insert antiquated notions here].