A broad range of VistA community members with diverse VistA backgrounds have proposed VistA Standard Base specification release candidate 8. The proposed document is intended to guide installation of Veterans Affairs VistA system on Linux using the Free/Open Source GTM mumps compiler. The text and public comment can be found here under the auspices of the Liberty Health Software Foundation a 501 c3 corporation.

Principle author of the specification Ignacio Valdes, MD, MS states: “Six months ago promises where made that if a specification could be
created for installation of VistA on GNU/Linux using GTM that management tools and novel applications would follow. Promises were made, promises were kept.” Jon Dorsey, Steve Watson, Ben Mehling, Fred Trotter, Larry “Gus” Landis, Butch Whitby, Anthony Papillion, David Whitten, and Ignacio Valdes have co-proposed the standard.

Dr. Valdes notes that as a result of the proposed specification, reference implementations have appeared. “A general renaissance of VistA private sector development seems to be occurring. What used to take 6-8 weeks to install can now be done in under an hour.” He further adds: “I believe that VSB is crucial in reducing the amount of repetitive work involved with moving VistA and its community forward. It is necessary to meet the changing dynamics and challenges of Health IT.”

Public comment on VistA Standard Base is open until August 31st, 2009. Public comment may re-open in the future as further development
occurs.