I think the best way to advance VistA is to make it web-based and make it programmable in Perl. Making it web-based would, I believe, replace CPRS which I am not sure has come along with the open source version.
It would also be nice to install modules piece-meal into a particular institution. A foot in the door is worth a lot. What VistA appears to have is a critical mass of programmers. That is the thing that has *always* propelled open source. >Ok so on one hand we have a system that works, supports 400 hostpitals >and users like: VistA and on the other the desire to build a future >proof solution: let's call it Futura (I think Ford had a car by that >name). The questions (perhaps a tad loaded) I would like to explore are: > >1. Is the social opportunity cost of waiting for Futura versus >implementing VistA globally worth it, ethical? >2. Is there a way to have your cake and eat it too....i.e. build Futura >and get the benefits of VistA? >3. If everyone used VistA would Futura even matter? > >The perspective I am taking is the 80/20 approach with global >improvement in health outcomes being the measure. > > >-- >Cheers, > >Joseph > >Joseph Dal Molin >e-cology corporation >www.e-cology.ca
