Monthly Archives: March 2007

GNUmed 0.2.5 released

GNUmed version 0.2.5 has been polished and released !
For the impatient: Go grab your copy at wiki.gnumed.de.or www.gnumed.de/downloads
Next to bug fixes and code cleanup this release has a nice selection of new features as well …

We need testers. Let us know if it works for you.
The GNUmed team worked hard to release yet another stable version.
As features are being added more and more success stories of happy users reach us.
For this release GNotary support on backup, improved phrasewheel code, handling of the original filename in the document archive, visual indication of patient birthday, initial KVK (German health insurance card) handling, connection pooling (massive speedup over slow network links), a generalized hooks framework and smart allergies handling has been added.

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Texas Tech Medical School Deploys VistA

Texas Tech University Medical School will deploy a version of VistA by Document Storage Systems, Inc. According to several news reports like this one: ‘The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine has begun deploying a public domain version of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ electronic health record (EHR) system developed by Document Storage Systems, according to the vendor…’ Some articles are saying that this is an open source deployment, however that may or may not be the case. The vendor, Document Storage Systems, is noted for being a proprietary vendor selling its own, not Free or Open Source Licensed, proprietary version of VistA. According to the article: ‘…The El Paso medical school, which is the company�s biggest non-VA job to date, will use the same core components of VistA as the VA does. The school also will use DSS-developed add-on modules to support departments not found in VA hospitals, such as pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology. DSS said it is also providing the school with an endocrinology software module…’

Taking heath information and giving it back to consumers – www.whoissick.org

http://www.whoissick.org recently launched a free new website focused on bringing heath information to the public by tracking and monitoring current and local sicknesses. Essentially, it is Web2.0/User generated content meets Healthcare through a very simple Google Maps interface.

Given the relatively slower adoption of internet and “web 2.0′ technology by much of the healthcare industry, we set out to create a simple, user-friendly, and valuable website for the average consumer.

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Adware within Healthcare: Software Free Dumb

Scott Shreeve, MD
weighs -in on the recent Practice Fusion announcement: ‘All this “paradigm shifting” and “revolutionary” talk is good – way good – and part of the fulfillment of the vision that so many within healthcare IT have had. However, the means by which they are able to deliver it FREELY raise the inevitable red flags. I have several major issues with the enabling mechanism of this “free”dom (or more appropriately Free Dumb).

While I have never been a huge privacy guy, and not being an information conspiracy theorist, I am still pretty concerned about how personal health information can be utilized…’

ClearHealth + CK-ERP Demo

I have just completed a preliminary version of a (ClearHealth+CK-ERP) connector. [CK-ERP is a CRM/ERP/MRP/accounting system.] A demo of CK-ERP operating within ClearHealth 1.0RC3-2006-10-24 is available at http://ck-erp.org/clearhealth/ .

I have just completed a preliminary version of a (ClearHealth+CK-ERP) connector. [CK-ERP is a CRM/ERP/MRP/accounting system.] A demo of CK-ERP operating within ClearHealth 1.0RC3-2006-10-24 is available at http://ck-erp.org/clearhealth/ .

At the same time, it is important to note that,

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Mirth 1.4 Released with HL7 v3, X12 and EDI Support

The Mirth project is announcing the release of Mirth 1.4, with HL7 v3, X12 (HIPAA X12N), EDI (UN/EDIFACT) and XML message support. Mirth 1.4 includes over 60 bug fixes, improvements and features, as well as a new, powerful development and mapping environment. Other new features include HTTP, SMTP and RTF support, application routing functionality and medical imaging support (binary image data encoding). Also stay tuned for the upcoming Mirth webinar which will be officially announced in the coming weeks.

MirrorMed + CK-ERP Demo

I have just completed a preliminary version of MirrorMed with a CK-ERP connector. CK-ERP is a CRM/ERP/MRP/accounting system, MirrorMed is a Practice Management system based on ClearHealth. A demo of CK-ERP operating within MirrorMed 1.0RC3 is available here. At the same time, it is important to note that,

  • There is no integration of MirrorMed and CK-ERP at database level and/or processing logic level. Developers familiar with OpenEMR + SQL-Ledger integration may produce a better result than I do.
  • I am not familiar with HIPAA and/or other medical IT rules and regulations, so I am not sure if the (MirrorMed + CK-ERP) environment would or would not breach any such rules/regulations. However, I would welcome any feedback on any potential problem in this regard. As usual, any criticism, feedback, comment, suggestions are most welcome.PS – Initially, I was trying to post this message to MirrorMed.org’s forum. However, the forum is closed to new user registration, so it appears linuxmednews is the next most appropriate venue to post this message. If, this message contravenes linuxmednews’ editoral policy, I offer my most sincere apology and please delete this message as you think fit.

Oh Sure, Everyone SAYS they want Open Source Healthcare Solutions…

Here is an opinion piece about FOSS and the IHE Connectathon: ‘…This year IBM supported the open source openEMR application participation fees. We will probably not be able to do it next year. I know of open source applications that wish to go to the ’08 Connectathon (openEMR, Mirth, Tolven, MirrorMed, and more are coming). They have lots of motivation that comes with considerable barriers in the shape of travel expenses plus the investment in integration, implementation, and passing the MESA tests. From talks with them I understand that the 8K$ registration fees is something they will not be able to swallow, and I assume that it will prevent them from participating in the event…’