Monthly Archives: March 2009

FOSS Health Conference Later Bird Registration Available

fred.trotter at gmail dot com writes: “Early bird sales for the conference have gone really well. Much better than I expected, and potentially problematically well. If DOHCS attendance is any indicator, there will be a spike of late registrations. I may be running out of space, which is not a problem if I know months in advance but is a problem if I know days or hours.

I have had several people email me saying “I just missed early bird registration, can I still get tickets at that price?” The answer is no, that would not be fair to the people who have registered on time. However, in sympathy to your pleas I have created a new “almost early bird” ticket sale that costs only a little more than early bird. You can purchase the tickets here:

http://fosshealth.eventbrite.com

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OSHIP is Looking for a Few Good Mentors

The OSHIP project is looking for a few more mentors; should it be selected for GSoC 2009
I am submitting my open source healthcare project, OSHIP for GSoC2009. I still need co-mentors for a few of the topics. If you have any experience in any of these areas and could spend just a wee bit of time helping out a student on it; please contact me at timothywayne.cook@gmail.com

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An Avoidance of Serious Solutions for Health Information Technology

The sound of one hand clapping is occurring regarding matters of utmost importance to the United States Health Information Technology infrastructure. The ‘Stimulus bill’ passage has come and gone with $19 billion and an enormous sea-change for Health Information Technology with far too many things staying the same. Visitors to Linux Medical News have had several intellectually honest but admittedly provocative articles presented: Un-Answered Questions in ARRA of 2009, A Generous, Virtuous Society, Your Money and Medical Privacy Gone, CBO: Health IT Deficit of $17 billion over 10 Years, Obama’s Health IT Dilemma: The ‘Some Dude’ Problem and Call For Ban on Federal Money for Proprietary EMR’s. Yet apparently no one, NO ONE, in these weeks, including national health IT leaders has seriously challenged or seriously debated the thinking or the solution presented in those articles while back-room dealing and incestuous relationships between government and vendors seem to have occurred. Unfortunately, the nation is currently poised to continue in-effective proprietary methods all over again only this time with gargantuan expenditure. The government seems to be favoring opacity rather than transparency. This course of action is perilous at best for the United States.

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Criticisms of HIMSS and CCHIT

HIMSS and CCHIT come under criticism over conflict of interests in board membership and other issues. Anonymous critics have touched off a spate of criticism over potential conflicts of interest with too much cross-pollination of HIMSS/ CCHIT board membership. High certification fees have also come under fire. Apparently a temporary dissolution of CCHIT due to clerical error has fanned the flames of discontent here.
Perhaps the appearance of impropriety in a world wearied by a never-ending parade of corporate scandals might make people more inclined to investigate open source alternatives?

HIT Informed Consent Form

Scott Silverstein, MD has come up with a Informed Consent on Use of HIT: “Patients currently are subject to the effects upon their care of electronic medical devices known collectively as “clinical IT” (electronic health records, computerized physician order entry, clinical decision support, clinical data repositories, etc.), but are not informed of the nature of this IT nor its possible adverse effects on their care. The consent forms they do sign are, therefore, incomplete. I am proposing a “Patient Rights Statement and Informed Consent on Use of Clinical IT Devices” be required at healthcare organizations using this technology. Here is a draft of such a consent:”

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PR: Midland Memorial Hospital Reduces Patient Deaths, Infection Rates Through Use of OpenVista Electronic Health Record

Full Press Release here. CARLSBAD, Calif. – March 4, 2009 – Since the implementation of Medsphere’s OpenVista electronic health record (EHR), Midland Memorial Hospital (MMH) has realized a host of improved clinical results, including fewer patient deaths and medical errors and decreased infection rates, an independent case study confirms.

The 2008 study (summarized in a PowerPoint presentation) was initiated by Medsphere to evaluate the effectiveness of OpenVista and was conducted by a third-party organization without Medsphere involvement.

Medical project in IST-Africa 2009

The Medical project will be presented in IST-Africa 2009 (www.ist-africa.org).

The workshop will discuss the implementation of an Open Source Hospital Information System in rural Argentina.

Medical is a multi-user, highly scalable, centralized Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and Hospital Information System (HIS) for openERP.

Our goal is to provide a free, universal EMR / HIS, where developing countries can also benefit.

Project Homepage : http://medical.sourceforge.net

A Generous, Virtuous Society

Building a generous, virtuous society is the hope of our nation, yet how to achieve that society through the possession and use of goods in this world is a difficult question. Especially in these times. The United States government has embarked upon a $19 billion dollar expenditure of possessions and goods in the hope of improving Health Information Technology. Yet that hope is overshadowed by the cold calculus of the Congressional Budget Office (PDF, p. 16-17) which postulates that such a program will have a large deficit even after ten years. Moreover, the provisions in the law for privacy and security are weak, leaving it up to a bureaucrat or agency to safeguard our most private medical details. Shouldn’t our society believe in and practice more freedom, not less? Shouldn’t our society seek fair, cost effective solutions and not one-sided, ineffective solutions that simply enable some to control our most intimate details and records?

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