This open letter appears here: http://linuxmednews.com/1198175130/index_html
Dear Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, PeaceHealth/Shared Care Plan Recently a version of the Shared Care Plan software surfaced in Houston, Texas. I have read the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) http://www.peacehealth.org/System/News/SCP_AgreementForm.htm for the software and unfortunately I cannot recommend the use of this software because the EULA is deficient in protecting the rights of 3rd party developers, patients, users and future generations. In short, it is not a Free/Open Source software license as defined by the Free Software Foundation http://fsf.org or the Open Source Initiative http://opensource.org. Because of this licensing deficiency, it is my opinion that this is an impediment to interoperability, privacy, security and furthering the goals of Health Information Technology: better, safer care at a lower cost. Goals that your organizations likely share. I believe licensing the software under Free/Open Source licenses would benefit PeaceHealth/Shared Care Plan patients and many others. I specifically recommend the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) for this software. Until that occurs, I cannot recommend the use of this software to anyone. I have attempted to contact your organization privately but it is exceedingly confusing to do so from the information given on the websites and this needs action now. This letter also appears on the Linux Medical News website where it will be viewed by tens of thousands of people including Health IT professionals. Sincerely, Ignacio H. Valdes, MD, MS Editor: Linux Medical News http://www.linuxmednews.com
