Medsphere has announced that it has joined the Veteran’s Administration’s Open Source Electronic Health Records Agent, or OSEHRA. By accepting the VA’s invitation to join the program, Medsphere hopes to contribute its extensive experience with both code convergence and the implementation of VistA-based EHR solutions.
“The OSEHRA project is pleased that Medsphere has officially joined our ongoing effort to effectively develop interoperable health IT solutions for the benefit of the collective whole,” said DaCosta Barrow, chief operating officer of OSEHRA, in a press release. “Medsphere's code convergence and tool development experience will raise the collaboration level of the entire project and will have exponential benefits for the open source development community creating an affordable EHR alternative for hospitals and clinics.”
The VA established OSEHRA to create a community of open-standards development for the implementation of EHR initiatives. Members of OSEHRA’s community work to promote and support EHR technology and software throughout the healthcare industry. In addition, OSEHRA members support joint integration of EHRs between the VA and the Department of Defense.
“Medsphere shares the VA's vision of a self-sustaining open source health IT ecosystem as a counterbalance to the exceedingly costly proprietary solutions that most hospitals cannot afford,” stated Medsphere President and CEO Irv Lichtenwald. “We're very excited and honored to be a part of OSEHRA and to contribute our real-world experience converging code and implementing VistA-based EHR solutions.”
Medsphere developed OpenVista, its own comprehensive EHR solution, and has also provided software codes and development tools to the open source community. The company reports that its software has amassed 15,000 downloads to date.
As part of OSEHRA, Medsphere will contribute to a code repository that will enhance developer collaboration and contribution to VistA. Enhancements to VistA will be both Web-based and architectural.
“With regard to healthcare improvement and IT,” Lichtenwald noted, “there must be affordable alternatives for the thousands of hospitals and clinics in America that, while operating on very thin margins, still serve as the only local sources of care.”
Medsphere has worked with the VA since the company’s inception to integrate the code based of VistA and the Indian Health Service’s Resource and Patient Management System. The company’s long history with VistA will make it a vital contributor to the OSEHRA community.
Edited by
Jennifer Russell
