A few months ago, I posted a proposed resolution and asked for comments, and many of you kindly reponded. When this came up for debate on the floor of the Pennsylvania Medical Society House of Delegates, here was an unsuccessful movement to remove all the references to open source, but it was adopted without amendment, but only for referral for decision by the Board of Trustees. It was not adopted by the House of Delegates (except for referral), primarily because most of the Delegates did not really have an understanding of what open source is. What follows is what was officially adopted for referral for decision by the Board.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RESOLUTION 05-404: ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS (EHR) Resolved, That the Pennsylvania Medical Society support law and public policy that promotes [sic] the implementation of open source, cross-platform interoperability standards; and be it further Resolved, That the Pennsylvania Medical Society promote the availability of open source Electronic Health Records (EHR) applications that meet the requirements and goals of the Administration, to both institutional providers and individual practitioners; and be it further Resolved, That the Pennsylvania Medical Society promote the development of EHR applications that are compatible with an open source operating environment or environments; and be it further Resolved, That the Pennsylvania Medical Society promote the development of EHR applications and standards of interoperability that permit the maximum protection of personal health information that is technically achievable, ABOVE AND BEYOND the requirements of the HIPAA of 1996. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Does anyone have a idea of where open source is going in the U.S. Health and Human Services efforts to promote universal ehr in the U.S.? I know there has been (not surprisingly) some resistance from the proprietary vendors, to early efforts to promote an open source model. -- Bruce L. Wilder, MD MPH JD Interprofessional Systems, Ltd. 436 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1050 Pittsburgh, PA 15219-1826 Tel 412 683-6015 1-866-594-6015 (Toll Free) Fax 412 683-6430 Changing health care for the 21st Century
