Open Source EHR Summit Coming

Seong K. Mun, PhD, President and CEO for the “Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent” (OSEHRA) just announced that the first annual Open Source EHR Summit and Workshop will be held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center at National Harbor, Maryland on October 17-18, 2012.

According to Dr. Mun, “The Summit is being organized to share the work of the OSEHRA community which is beginning to continue to chart a bold new course for the most innovative EHR platforms that will be made available.”

Developments are rapidly taking place. The VA has fully adopted the open source approach to modernizing their EHR system VistA and also the OSEHRA certified “Gold Version” of VistA, will soon be installed in VA medical centers nationwide.

OSEHRA’s code repository is being populated daily with innovative open source tools and modules. Organizations with commercial products based on VistA code are now working with federal agencies to converge various versions of the codes into a single codebase.

It is projected that more than 200 hospitals and 1000 clinics within the federal sector alone will be managing and maintaining their EHRs using open source codes within the next few years. An increasing number of state agencies are deploying open source solutions as well. All of these open source activities have created a huge market opportunity for both the private and public sectors.

To take part in the evolving discussion, cutting edge speakers with upfront ideas on business models, technologies, and clinical applications that are going to drive the progress for open source software development and health IT will speak at the Summit. 

The Honorable James Peake, MD, Chairman, Board of Directors, OSEHRA, and Former Secretary, of the Department of Veterans Affairs, will Chair the Opening Session “Defining the Future of Open Source Software and the EHR.”

Some of the other esteemed experts include:

• Todd Park, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, OSTP, Executive Office of the President
• W. Scott Gould, Deputy Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs
• Steven Van Roekel, Federal CIO for the Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President
• Roger W. Baker, Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs
• Karen S. Guice, MD, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Department of Defense
• Robert I. Jesse, MD, PhD, Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Health, Department of Veterans Affairs

 Day one will include presentations on health IT innovations, industry trends, why these issues matter to the open source EHR community, plus discussions on open source business models. Day two will include breakout sessions with speakers presenting ideas on interoperability, open source development tools and methods, new clinical tools, big data & clinical genomics, OS ecosystems, innovations OS VistA, OS mobile health, genome-enabled EHRs, sustainable models, data mining and data analytics, certification and testing, VistA code activities, working with OSEHRA, and coping with open science and data. 

For more information go to www.osehra.org or call Conrad Clyburn, Director, Community Development, OSEHRA at 571-858-3205.