The WorldVistA website is sporting a new look and software backend based on plone. Looks like they are gearing up for the long-haul and upcoming VistA vendor training. Of interest is the VistA adopters page among other interesting pages.
Tag Archives: VistA
Major VistA Office EHR Release Expected Next Week
Next week should be quite a week for the Veterans Administration VistA software. Among other things, CMS is expected to release VistAOffice EMR/EHR (or Vista Office with a space?) on or about August 1st. VistA Office EHR is a highly-anticipated, easy to install (but apparently *not* easy to configure) version of the VA VistA software that is oriented towards small physician’s offices. Here’s the blow by blow of how the ‘price’ of VistA Office EHR has unfolded to me: First it was free of cost and license according to the NY Times, then HHS ‘backed off’ of that saying that it will actually cost $2700, purportedly for a Cache’s MUMPS license. Now it may be that you get a free in cost, but not license, for a Cache limited time 3 seat proprietary license. Rumor has it that it really will be free in cost and license soon after the official CMS release whenever the community can get a GT.M version (which is free in cost and license). Why GT.M was not included by CMS from the start is unknown to this reporter. It should be quite a week. Visits to Linux Medical News have been very high this month.
Hui Deploys Paperless Prescriptions
According to an article in Government Health IT: ‘…Veterans in Hawaii will no longer have to follow the paper prescription trail thanks to a new VA/DOD bidirectional pharmacy system deployed this week by the Pacific Telehealth & Technology Hui, a health research and application and development center back by the DOD Pacific Regional Medical Command and the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System…’ One could envision that all health systems work this way, but one would be wrong.
Press Release: Hui OpenVistA 3.0 Released to WorldVistA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 20, 2005 The Pacific Telehealth & Technology Hui (“Hui”) announced the completion of Hui OpenVista 3.0, the first major upgrade of the software since June 2003. In a technology transfer initiative, the Hui released the software upgrade to WorldVistA for use as a baseline in developing OpenVista 4.0.
The Hui development team made several key enhancements to Hui OpenVista –
most notably a more streamlined configuration process. Release 3.0 provides
a preconfigured baseline system that simplifies the steps needed to convert
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) version of VistA to OpenVista. This
enables users to quickly download the baseline as a starting point for
configuring the system to their specific requirements.
Hospital Systems Worldwide Adopting VA IT System
News about VistA just keeps coming. This article from iHealthBeat: ‘As the Department of Veterans Affairs plans its $3.5 billion overhaul of its hospital computer system, VistA, hospitals and clinics around the world are adopting the system, the St. Petersburg Times reports. Public hospitals and nursing homes in Oklahoma and West Virginia have installed the VistA system, as have hospitals in Germany, Nigeria and other countries, the Times reports.
AIM: High Rates of Adverse Drug Events in a Highly Computerized Hospital
Wired news has a mass-media article on an Archives of Internal Medicine report about high rates of adverse drug effects in a hospital that is highly computerized. From the Wired article: ‘…At the Salt Lake City hospital, for instance, health workers ordered the wrong drugs, ordered the wrong doses and failed to monitor patients properly. Ninety-one percent of the 483 mishaps were moderately harmful, and 9 percent were serious, according to the researchers…If you think your own neighborhood hospital might do a better job than the hospital in the study, think again. Sure, the Salt Lake City facility is part of the frequently maligned VA system. But VA hospitals are widely lauded for their advanced medical technology and commitment to reducing medical errors.
MedEcon: What About the VA’s EHR
There is an article in Medical Economics about the possibilities of privatization of the Veterans Administration VistA software. It has some laughably erroneous quotes in it which are fortunately partly rebutted in the article such as: ‘…Mark R. Anderson, a consultant with the AC Group in Montgomery, TX, is skeptical that the VistA-Office EHR will be as inexpensive as CMS claims. The main problem, he says, is that it uses the MUMPS programming language, rather than Windows. Even though a Windows “front end” can be grafted onto the MUMPS system, making the screens look like Windows screens, a small business computer server can’t run the software, he says. “Any PC can access a MUMPS operating system. But who’s going to maintain that server with the MUMPS operating database? You’ve got to buy a big mainframe server that costs $50,000 to $100,000 to run the system.” VistA will also need special interfaces to outside applications that run on Windows, including practice management and laboratory systems, he maintains…’ Thanks to Kevin Toppenberg for this link.
Nearly $1 million Awarded to WorldVistA for Vendor Training
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that WorldVistA has been named ‘…as a vendor support organization to provide vendor training on the VistA-Office EHR….’ Aside from injecting much-needed funds into the Free and Open Source VistA software effort what does it all mean? Linux Medical News interviewed WorldVistA director Joseph Dal Molin about the announcement. The complete interview is below. The facts at a glance are: 1) Approximately $900,000 awarded for training VistA vendors. 2) The training will be free. 3) Training dates should begin in late August or early September and will be complete by January 2006. 4) Two training tracks will be available, one for those with no VistA experience and one for those with some experience. 5) Training locations will be announced but will likely be held once each in the East, Central and Western United States.
Breaking News: WorldVista Official Vendor Support for VistA-Office-EHR
According to an announcement on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website:
‘…CMS, through the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care as its contractor to support the VistA-Office EHR project, has established WorldVistA (link to www.worldvista.org) as a vendor support organization to provide vendor training on VistA-Office EHR. WorldVistA�s mission is to improve health by making medical software better and more affordable. WorldVistA, incorporated in 2002 as a nonprofit corporation will provide training sessions to vendors beginning in September 2005, shortly after version 1.0 is released to the public. WorldVistA will also convene conferences and establish a website where training information will be available…’ Thanks to Nancy Anthracite for the link. More information will follow as it occurs.
Open-Source VistA to emerge in 2005
Editor’s note: Dan Johnson, MD is a distinguished member of the FOSS in medicine community. He holds the distinction of writing the earliest known ideas on the subject. Dan reports the following: First, this is not an “announcement,” in the sense of Grand Hoopla. It is news that a door is creaking open: The Wisconsin QIO (Quality Improvement Organization; formerly known as a PRO – Professional Review Organization), MetaStar (formerly known as
WIPRO), has internally committed to sponsoring a proper open-source distribution of VistA Office, the physician-office-ready version of VistA that is being prepared for August 1st release by CMS (the agency formerly known as HCFA).
What does this mean?