I found this article
to be an interesting read. It is an article at Informatics Review. Linda Wedemeyer,
MD asked the following question to an AMIA email group and digested the answers:
“I am a practicing ophthalmologist in Los Angeles, and a medical informatics
student at UC Davis. I have followed the conversations about open source software
with interest. Recently I have been reviewing the literature on the topic. One
thing is not clear to me. I see lots of software available, but IS ANYBODY ACTUALLY
DOING THIS? I can see that there are bits and pieces being used here and there.
Has anybody set up a whole health care institution using open source software,
and if so, is it working in real life? How does the quality/cost compare IN REAL
LIFE to commercial software? Does hiring commercial groups to support the products,
if you don’t have the staffing in house, actually work? Editor’s Note: Excellent post Steven. We originally reported on this event here. See my comments below for some background on it.