The next week will be an exciting week in Chicago as the HiMSS conference gets underway. Here is a comprehensive list of all new product offerings within the health care systems sphere. It is clear the major themes of virtualization, business intelligence, sustainability, and interoperability are all present in the offerings of the diverse groups of health IT software providers.
Simply viewing the list of products elicits one of the prevailing, fundamental questions in the health care IT arena in the US. How can all of these independent, software providers combine to provide a comprehensive, interoperable US health care system? There are hundreds of different EMR, PHR, etc. software packages along with a variety of different motivations and incentives for providing the varying softwares. It will be essential for large health care providers and health software providers to unite in conferences such as this HiMSS conference to communicate the issues. It will only be through collaboration and a sharing environment that the US health care system will truly be a system that health providers can access anytime and anywhere.
Perhaps that it is why open source is truly gaining ground in the health care arena. The entire platform of open source is based upon the model of sharing and collaboration. The larger the community, the more robust and detailed the software becomes. With the more input, the better the software becomes, and it the community that is making the changes. The changes then reflect the actual needs of the health care providers as opposed to addressing the financials needs of proprietary businesses.
One hopes then that the open source model can penetrate itself into the talks at such conferences as HiMSS. This mentality is clearly the fundamental model needed to help unite the segregated health care environment today in the United States. Proprietary providers can still strive in such an environment, but it is key for these providers to truly understand what business they are in. The health care sphere becomes much more than making a profit. It is ensuring the lives of American people. Therefore, like many large pharmas in their mission statements, it is key to focus on bettering and ensuring the health of human beings. With this changed mindset, proprietary and open source providers alike can work together to build a united, interoperable health system.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Study for Open Source in Economic Stimuls Package
With the passing of the economic stimulus law, the open source health community has gained ground in its presence in the health system IT sphere. Within the law, a provision states that a study shall be conducted that researches health open source systems. At the conclusion of the study, Congress will report on the findings of the study on October 1, 2010.
This study could help the open source health IT community truly garner enough support to make it a viable competitor against large proprietary health systems. The Health and Human Services Department has been tasked with the duty of conducting the research, so one hopes that they do so without a bias towards/against the open source movement. At the very least, one should hope the task force be comprised of individuals with a variety of opinions with regards to health IT systems, so the study can present the most holistic, varied view of open source health IT systems.
Article Source: Government Health IT
This study could help the open source health IT community truly garner enough support to make it a viable competitor against large proprietary health systems. The Health and Human Services Department has been tasked with the duty of conducting the research, so one hopes that they do so without a bias towards/against the open source movement. At the very least, one should hope the task force be comprised of individuals with a variety of opinions with regards to health IT systems, so the study can present the most holistic, varied view of open source health IT systems.
Article Source: Government Health IT
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Medsphere Open Source Systems
There are stated concerns that open source software does not come with the necessary support and security like proprietary offerings have. However, check out Medsphere. They operate off of an open source software model but provide the necessary support to install the software and security for protection of data in the system. Their system, OpenVista, is modular and is a pay-as-you-go concept. It is not necessary for a health provider to adopt an entire system package, but rather the health provider can choose what it is they want to implement and pay when they implement it.
Medsphere follows along the lines of many open source software providers in that they cannot offer everything they do for free. The software is open source, so it's free. However, by adding on their services, Medsphere does in fact charge for their services (similar to RedHat with Linux). The question then is how much does it cost to implement the open source with its services in comparison to the proprietary systems? From Medsphere's site along with open source providers in general, the consensus appears to be that there is a significant cost savings in comparison to the proprietary system offerings. Is that true? If so, can these savings be quantified and compared for health care providers to truly understand the financial differences?
Medsphere follows along the lines of many open source software providers in that they cannot offer everything they do for free. The software is open source, so it's free. However, by adding on their services, Medsphere does in fact charge for their services (similar to RedHat with Linux). The question then is how much does it cost to implement the open source with its services in comparison to the proprietary systems? From Medsphere's site along with open source providers in general, the consensus appears to be that there is a significant cost savings in comparison to the proprietary system offerings. Is that true? If so, can these savings be quantified and compared for health care providers to truly understand the financial differences?
IBM and Mayo Clinic Partner
Both Mayo Clinic and IBM are now openly acknowledging the benefits of open source as we see with their newly announced partnership. Mayo Clinic and IBM will work together to create a website that logs a consortium of open source health technologies and processing languages. The purpose of it is to ultimately allow for physicians to search years worth of health data from large EMR systems to understand better the specific cases around the country/or world that deal with a health issue that are seeing. This will allow for physicians to be more informed on health issues and see what diagnoses have worked and which ones haven't. Therefore, physicians should be better equipped in terms of knowledge of the issue in making decisions on how to treat the issue.
Article Resource Link on Healthcare IT News
Article Resource Link on Healthcare IT News
Wal-Mart Offering EMR System
Just recently, Wal-Mart announced its launch of electronic medical records (EMR). Wal-Mart will in fact now be marketing EMR's targeted at small physician offices. Wal-Mart will partner with Dell and eClinicalWorks to offer the EMR system for less than $25,000 for the first physician in a practice and then an additional $10,000 for each additional physician.
Wal-Mart, as always, espouses its motto of "low costs," and with this new system, they are following this logic. Wal-Mart led the way in the $4 generic drug program, so it will be interesting to see what happens with Wal-Mart entering the health care IT sphere. By teaming up with Dell and eClinicalWorks, Wal-Mart demonstrates that it has the knowledge and support to offer a well-developed EMR system at a more affordable price than many other proprietary solutions.
The question still remains, though. Why should a health care provider adopt a $25,000 EMR system when there are open source health software systems for free? Perhaps, the initial reaction is that open source does not have the support staff to guarantee the security and efficiency of the system. However, it is clear that the open source health system providers are gaining momentum. For a small physicians office of 5 doctors, Wal-Mart's EMR system would be approximately a $65,000 investment, which negates training and re-structuring costs. Therefore, adopting an open source software system becomes a truly viable option for a small physician's office when considering costs.
Wal-Mart, as always, espouses its motto of "low costs," and with this new system, they are following this logic. Wal-Mart led the way in the $4 generic drug program, so it will be interesting to see what happens with Wal-Mart entering the health care IT sphere. By teaming up with Dell and eClinicalWorks, Wal-Mart demonstrates that it has the knowledge and support to offer a well-developed EMR system at a more affordable price than many other proprietary solutions.
The question still remains, though. Why should a health care provider adopt a $25,000 EMR system when there are open source health software systems for free? Perhaps, the initial reaction is that open source does not have the support staff to guarantee the security and efficiency of the system. However, it is clear that the open source health system providers are gaining momentum. For a small physicians office of 5 doctors, Wal-Mart's EMR system would be approximately a $65,000 investment, which negates training and re-structuring costs. Therefore, adopting an open source software system becomes a truly viable option for a small physician's office when considering costs.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Comparative Study of Google Health and Microsoft Vault
This white paper provides a great comparative study between Google Health and Microsoft Vault. Both of these systems focus on the individual and empowering them to be in control of their own health records. This is known as the "Personal Health Record" (PHR). The comparative study ranked the two systems on a number of different qualities. Google Health was preferred, overall, because of its ease-of-use. However, Microsoft Vault was chosen over Google's system when judged on security and reliance. Therefore, it is clear from this comparative study that neither system is perfect. There is much room for improvement in the overall user experience and ease in which a user can control their records in either system.
Perhaps because of the existence of these fundamental flaws in the Google and Microsoft systems, the open source movement can take advantage of this opportunity. Those that feel passionately about having control over their medical records can lead the open source community in developing a system that can truly competes in the realm of Google and Microsoft. The comparative study between Google and Microsoft can then serve as a guiding force with its identification of guidelines needed for a well-developed and easy-to-use PHR system.
Perhaps because of the existence of these fundamental flaws in the Google and Microsoft systems, the open source movement can take advantage of this opportunity. Those that feel passionately about having control over their medical records can lead the open source community in developing a system that can truly competes in the realm of Google and Microsoft. The comparative study between Google and Microsoft can then serve as a guiding force with its identification of guidelines needed for a well-developed and easy-to-use PHR system.
Open Source Health Systems Conference
The open source movement is truly beginning to unify itself within the health care field. Here is the link to the annual Demonstrating Opensource Health Care Solutions (DOHCS) conference. The conference is sponsored by four open source health system providers. Each one offers a robust, well-developed software offering. Check out the organizations below.
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