You are right we should not receive a "by" we do need to make concrete suggestions as to how the same organization can accomplish open source evaluations...
Here are the suggestions from emrupdate.com
>>emrupdate
- Markedly decrease your up-front fees and eliminate the percent royalties provisions. In most other certification arenas, the cost is usually ranges from about $150-$300 (Verisign-like certificates) to slightly over $1000 (Board certification for physicians). The government should pick up any shortfall in revenue since they stand to gain through future Medicare cost savings.
- Eliminate the "all or nothing" certification process. Consider a tiered certification process, s.a. "Gold", "Silver" and "Bronze". Alternatively, EMRs can be certified as having certain listed features, s.a. "150/328" features, allowing the buyer to know exactly what they are purchasing. EMRs should be verified that the EMR pricing is truthfully represented, eliminating the element of surprise in delivery of purchased goods and services.
- The certification features should be pared down to a dozen of the most important features, especially those features that deal with interoperability and the making of the CCR universal. All other features would be suggested, but optional.
- Self-testing should be reassessed. The EMR products should be independently tested for the items that are advertised. Consideration should be made for running speed and reliability. Does the software even work outside of the laboratory?
- Certify financial responsibility and exit strategy to make sure that no user will ever be at risk of losing his medical data due to lack of same.
- Vendors should not in any capacity be involved in the certification process as evaluators.
- This initiative introduces us to a slippery slope of arbitrary item inclusion, all of which should be removed or made optional. Today, that decision to include peds-specific content effectively removes those EMR's going after internal medicine, geriatric, adult endo, gastro, uro, and other specialty markets.
- CCHIT should define criteria for a lab interface so that every EMR did not need a separate interface for every lab vendor. We need to define a set a lab names/codes so that a CBC is a CBC on both coasts and in between.
If you agree with these then you should sign there letter.
So here is what I would propose regarding FOSS software.
1. Reduce by 90% the costs associated for certifying any product that is published under an Open Source (as defined by OSI) or Free Software License (As defined by the Free Software Foundation). Software released under these licenses contribute directly to the public good, unlike proprietary software. Since there is no "profiting party" like a proprietary software company, there is no source of funds from which to pay the standard fees.
2. Instead of certifying software alone, vendors-software pairs should be certified. So "B-Mas supporting FreeMED" would be a "Open Source CCHIT certified" instead of just FreeMED. That encourages B-Mas to pay the fees, and gives them specific benifits once those fees are payed. Also it means that the same software can be certfied by different vendors several times. This benifits projects with multiple vendors, like VistA and MirrorMed/ClearHealth. It gives us a way to pool resources as a community to get multiple certifications that benifit individual vendors but does not break the bank for each vendor. This also serves to supply the cash needed for the CCHIT process (which is very person intensive).
Does this sound like a reasonable proposal? If it does then I will write a formal version and then request "signatures"
-FT
On 3/24/06, Greg Woodhouse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
[I hope you don't mind if I copy this to Hardhats. I think it is a
topic of interest to both communities.]
I have mixed feelings here. It seems completely reasonable to want to
have an accreditation/certification process for health information
systems (though the jurisdiction issue is certainly a tricky one), but
I believe you are right that the current model is problematic for open
source software. The issue is controversial, but it doesn't seem right
that open source software should essentially receive a "by" in this
area. After all, such systems are used for the same types of safety
critical applications as proprietary software. Sure, there is community
review, but is tht really enough?
What seems logical for is for some organization (perhaps OSHCA, but
more likely an independent entity) to establish criteria for certifying
open source systems. How would it all be funded? Good question. I don't
think I really have any good answers, but one possibility is that
vendors that support open source product suites would pay for
accreditation (albeit using a different model and/or provcing
criteria). Another possibility is to formalize the review process and
make all relevant artifacts publicly available. The problem here, of
course, is that there is no real incentive for an official agency to
review (or audit) that process and provide accreditation for the
software.
Tough one.
===
Gregory Woodhouse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"It is foolish to answer a question that
you do not understand."
--G. Polya ("How to Solve It")
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