4 ms·

great summary. I've noticed the VA system is quite good as well and have been trying to see why other institutions don't use it. I assume the taxpayer already

great summary. I've noticed the VA system is quite good as well and have been trying to see why other institutions don't use it. I assume the taxpayer already paid to create it, so why not open source the product and let people integrate?

j_b_f 17y ago
VistA has an open source release called OpenVistA that is pretty well-supported: http://sourceforge.net/projects/openvista/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/openvista/
jberryman 17y ago
I can't find a link right now, but a month or two ago there was an interview on NPR with the author of (I believe) this book: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Care-Anywhere-Health-Better/dp/0977825302 http://www.amazon.com/Best-Care-Anywhere-Health-Better/dp/09... In the interview he talked about how some doctors at the VA hacked together a computerized medical records system in the 70s, and how having these computerized records actually allowed the VA doctors to discover links between some dangerous drugs and disease. That's in addition to the benefits of a doctors being able to pull up 30 years of your medical history on a screen. Wish I could remember details about the interview, but the book is probably good.