Updated: 09/21/07 allowed a web copy to be posted here. The August print edition of Advance for Health Information Executives has a tour-de-force article by Bruce Wilder, MD, MPH, JD page 49 entitled ‘Getting Beyond Economics’ that is simply pure champagne.

In addition to espousing the virtues of FOSS and WorldVistA EHR it contains such gems as: ‘The move toward a universal EHR is much more than the introduction of a new technology in medical care. Universal implementation of proprietary EHR systems has the potential to wrest control of the doctor-patient relationship from doctors and their patients. Unfortunately, most doctors and their patients don’t have a clue that this could happen — and already is happening — right under their noses. And, they will be paying for it!

…There has been much debate about how multiple proprietary vendors and developers wish to market their own products and develop methods to achieve interoperability (e.g., through efforts such as HL7 and CCHIT), and still retain intellectual property rights to their software. We should not lose sight of the real focus which is to implement EHR systems because they improve the quality and safety of medical care and produce significant cost efficiencies. The primary goal is not to make a favorable business environment for proprietary vendors and software developers. Of course, the argument is, and will continue to be, that creating a favorable environment, including a milieu for healthy competition, for these companies is necessary for the development of effective EHR systems.’