Monthly Archives: July 2003

zWebit interface engine released as GNU/GPL

HSC has released the zWebit interface engine under the GNU GPL license. The Linux based interface engine utilizes a web based front end for monitoring interface statuses and was built using C++,php and html. Support for HL7 transactions is included.

Work is currently underway to incorporate the Perl HL7 toolkit with zWebit to provide extensions for end user data manipulation and control.

zWebit has proven stable and reliable in a 250 bed hospital supporting twelve interface connections. zWebit is based on a simple, time proven and well documented design.

zWebit is available on Source Forge at http://sourceforge.net/projects/zwebit

Dave Scott, Moderator, Director of Minoru Development Corp Dies

Dave Scott, long time moderator of the Openhealth(tm) list and a director of Minoru Development corporation has died from complications of diabetes. Scott’s diplomacy and wit were well known and appreciated by all. The text of the announcement by Minoru-Development Corp’s president Brian Bray is within.

It is with great sadness that I announce a change in the administration
of the openhealth list. Dave Scott, the list manager is no longer with us.

Dave passed away last Sunday in Paris from complications of diabetes. He
would have been 40 on July 29th.

Dave was one of the founders and a director of Minoru Development and
was a tireless crusader for open source health care. He will be missed
in other communities as well. He was a director of the Vancouver Fringe
Theatre Festival where he organised hundreds of volunteers. He was also
active politically campaigning for changes to Canada’s constitution to
promote greater unity between French and English speakers. He has been a
campaign manager for a Canadian minister of defense and was the editor
of an award winning newletter on technical writing. His career includes
management positions in government, information technology for an
international engineering firm, and technical writing for Reuters.

His funeral service will be held in the Toronto area in early September.
An open reception will also be held at the Pere Lachaise crematorium
(salle Landowski) in Paris at 9:20AM this Thursday, July 24th, for those
in France wishing to celebrate his life and to say goodbye.

Dave is survived by his parents Mae and Gunther (maeobladen@sprint.ca)
and his sisters Mary (mspeare@oldrepublic-group.com) and Heather.

I thank the staff at the hospital of Versailles and the Cochin hospital
in Paris for their care.

For issues related to the openhealth list and the OSHCA website, the
contact is now Sylvain Hellegouarch (sylvainh@openhealth.com) and/or
myself (brianbr@openhealth.com).

-Brian

EHR Collaborative Formed, Input Invited

The EHR Collaborative is sponsoring a series of open forum meetings across the country (USA) in August. These forums will serve as your opportunity to provide input into fast-moving advances toward the development of a functional model and standards for the electronic health record (EHR). While work on such standards has a rich tradition and has been unfolding in an evolutionary sense, what is now different is the level of support and encouragement for such standards at the U.S. national level and by key federal agencies and the immediacy with which this work is being urged forward. Read more for the full announcement including forum dates and locations.

An Invitation to offer feedback on draft Electronic Health Record Standards

WHAT

The American Medical Informatics Association, in collaboration with a number of other key healthcare stakeholder organizations, is sponsoring a series of open forum meetings across the country in August that we
believe you and others from your organization will find very important.

WHY

These forums will serve as your opportunity to provide input into fast-moving advances toward the development of a functional model and standards for the electronic health record (EHR). While work on such
standards has a rich tradition and has been unfolding in an evolutionary sense, what is now different is the level of support and encouragement for such standards at the national level and by key federal agencies
and the immediacy with which this work is being urged forward.

On July 1 of this year, Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced that the Department has asked two prestigious organizations, the Institute of Medicine
and Health Level 7 (HL7), to design a standard for electronic health records (EHR). This fast-tracked project is to report to DHHS by September 1, 2003. The model and standards will be used in demonstration
projects in the coming year and will have far reaching impact on the entire health care community, ranging from large enterprises to individual practices.

The open forum meetings are designed to gather feedback on the EHR model and standards being developed by HL7 before they are delivered to DHHS. The agenda for the forums will include an overview of
the draft HL7 model and its implications and will provide an opportunity for gathering comment. Participant feedback will be compiled in a summary report for HL7 and DHHS. A copy of the report will also be
available for public review.

Developing an effective, universally accepted EHR model requires input from the end-users, those who manage the technology and information content, and those who will invest in its acquisition, implementation
and maintenance. It is for this reason that the collaborating organizations are working to compile broad-based input from users to support and strengthen the work of HL7, educate the industry, build consensus,
and facilitate adoption.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

If you are involved in EHR projects or are interested in advancing the EHR, your participation is strongly encouraged. This is an opportunity to analyze, discuss and critique the model and standards in a
multidisciplinary session.

WHEN AND WHERE

The open forum meetings will be held in the following locations only. On site registration will begin at 8:00 a.m. Meetings will begin promptly at 8:30 and adjourn no later than 12:30 p.m.

Space is limited. Please visit http://www.EHRCollaborative.org to register. There is no charge for participation in these forums, but space planning requires that you indicate your intent to attend and notify the
sponsors if your plans change.

Locations

Monday August 11: Chicago

American Hospital Association

One North Franklin Street

Chicago, IL 60606

(312) 422-2180

Wednesday August 13: Seattle

Location to be announced

Friday August 15: Los Angeles

Location to be announced

Monday August 18: Boston

Massachusetts Medical Society

860 Winter Street

Waltham Woods Corporate Center

Waltham, MA 02451-1411

(800) 322-2303

Tuesday August 19: Atlanta

D. Abbott Turner Center

1703 Turner Lane

Atlanta, Georgia 30329

(404) 712-6000

Wednesday August 20: Dallas

Baylor University Medical Center

Tom Landry Fitness Center

Classrooms A, B & C

411 N. Washington Street

Dallas, TX 75246

(214) 820-7870

Forum Sponsors:

– American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)

– American Medical Association (AMA)

– American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)

– American Nurses Association (ANA) (Tentative)

– College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME)

– eHealth Initiative(eHI)

– Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)

– National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT)

These organizations represent key stakeholders including practicing clinicians, payers, purchasers, researchers, healthcare providers, IT suppliers, information and technology managers, accrediting groups, public
health organizations, manufacturers, and public sector partners. The goal of this Collaborative is to facilitate rapid input from the healthcare community in this and other development initiatives that advance the
adoption of information standards for healthcare.

Additional Background Information

Additional information regarding the open forum meetings will be forthcoming in the weeks leading up to the meetings. The Collaborative is also working to make the HL7�s EHR model and proposed standards
more accessible to non-technical audiences involved in healthcare by providing on-going interpretation and analysis of this complex issue. For additional information and resources, visit the special web site
established to support this national input project http://www.EHRCollaborative.org.

Call for abstracts — APIII meeting, Oct 2003

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Division of Pathology Informatics and UPMC Information Services Division invite participation in the eighth annual conference on Advancing Pathology Informatics, Imaging, and the Internet (APIII 2003). The conference will be held at the Marriott City Center in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, October 8-10, 2003. Abstracts for presentations and e-posters are accepted as electronic submissions until August 15. Read on for more information.

Complete information about this conference is available at
http://apiii.upmc.edu/

APIII 2003 will feature three main areas of concentration:

  • Pathology Informatics (such as controlled vocabulary, decision support, digital microscopy, distance learning)
  • Oncology Informatics (such as oncology outcomes research, clinical
    trials informatics, consumer-health informatics)

  • Bioinformatics (such as computational biology, data-mining, tissue
    and gene array analysis)

    Abstracts may be submitted for Scientific Sessions or E-poster presentations.

    Scientific Sessions will be presented as 10-12 minute talks, followed by questions from the audience and
    members of a scientific panel. There is particular interest in submissions that focus on three main areas of sub-specialization: pathology informatics, oncology
    informatics, and bioinformatics. Topics include but are not
    limited to: controlled vocabulary, digital microscopy, computer-assisted
    decision support, pattern recognition, tissue and gene array analysis,
    data-mining, education, and outcomes research. The work may be motivated by
    problems encountered in pathology and/or oncology and reflect research on
    algorithms, systems software or databases, or describe novel laboratory
    applications and any new technologies or systems impacting informatics.
    Presenters may employ PowerPoint, multimedia, and/or Internet-based
    technologies.

    E-poster presentations are similar to traditional poster presentations, but
    are presented from provided computers using data accessed locally or via the Internet. E-posters may take
    several forms, including a PC-driven PowerPoint presentation, a live
    demonstration of your Web site, or other Web-based media.

    The meeting provides Pentium-based PCs, software
    (Netscape and Microsoft Explorer) and connections to the Internet. Macintosh or Linux
    computers are not provided for presentations but special arrangements can be made in advance if necessary.

    Abstracts for Scientific Sessions and E-posters must be submitted electronically. Abstract forms for both types of presentations are
    available online at http://apiii.upmc.edu/. Deadline for all abstract
    submissions is 5 p.m., August 15, 2003.

    Presentations are eligible for awards in:

    • Advancing the Fields of Pathology, Biology, and Oncology through Informatics Technologies (Scientific Session and e-poster)
    • Best Departmental Web site (e-poster only)

    All accepted abstracts will be published in Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

    • Kidwai Clinical Management Laboratory System 2.0

    This one just in: Kidwai Clinical Management Laboratory System 2.0 was announced on Freshmeat.net today. The system is GPL’ed: ‘Kidwai is a system to automate a critical component of a cancer hospital’s existing (non-computerized) management system. It automates the entire process of managing Individual Patients Laboratory Requisition details, from the registration of a patient for a specific test (on site), to a doctor viewing the patient’s tests results from a terminal.’ Karsten Hilbert who graciously supplied this link on the Openhealth(tm) list commented ‘Holy cow’ about the announcement.

    Progress of drugref.org

    The drugref.org database (http://www.drugref.org) contains now the complete
    Australian “Yellow book” data, meaning all medication subsidized by the
    public health system including brand names, packet sizes etc. – thanks to Ian
    Haywood for this. Drugref.org might soon get another boost through university cooperation –
    details as soon as I can confirm that this cooperation will really take
    place.

    A paper on drugref.org has been accepted and will be presented at the joint
    RACGP and HIC health IT conference in Sydney (http://www.hic.org.au/)
    Sunday, 16:10, Session 14: Information Retrieval, General Practice:
    Freedom of pharmaceutical reference information – No decision support without?