VistA - I've got a tiger by the tail(or a dinosaur)

Well, it feels like that, a bit of a roller-coaster, sometimes thinking we had in our grasp the solution to the elusive Electronic Health Records (EHR) integration then, other times think it's really a dinosaur we're holding onto. I first encountered VistA in 2005 when we worked with Tony Kenny at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin and now, late in 2013, we're still thinking VistA can play a major role in solving our health information management needs.

Tony did some work with Intersystems Cache in 2005, I tried to engage IBM Ireland and a private investor (had a few meetings but no great progress) but the National Program for IT NP4IT was in full swing in the UK NHS, there was a lot of money flying around and no interest in the notion of open source, communities of practice or a system that actually worked.

I presented some of our work at GOSCON in Portland OR in 2008 and watched Ed Billings presentation on Medspheres approach to VistA. It made sense to me and I liked the approach. Enough to encourage me to attend the WorldVistA Community Meeting in Bethesda Maryland in 2009. It was brilliant, hosted in the National Library of Medicine at the National Institute of Health, the biggest health research facility in the world, doctors, technologists, WorldVistA people sharing thoughts, techniques, experience

Latest News

Software Maintenance Management Planning

29 May 2023

Combining the development efforts and the ongoing maintenance of your software is key to ensuring that you have a robust and constantly improving and evolving solution.

Having a software maintenance plan is just as important as the initial development. Professionally managed maintenance allows for the continual improvement and adaptation to changing business needs and technological advancements.

Patient Registry Data and General Data Protection Regulation

29 May 2023

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. First brought into effect in 2018, all businesses have been affected by the EU regulation worldwide. In this article, we will highlight what the regulation entails, key terms/items from the legislation, it’s importance in the modern world, how it measures up against other regulations and finally, how we as a company ensure our compliance.

OpenApp supports Metachromatic Leukodystrophy Disease MLD Research

2 March 2023

To celebrate Rare Disease Day 2023, which takes place on the 28th of February, we are changing our colours and showing our support for the Metachromatic Leukodystrophy Disease (MLD) Support Association UK. OpenApp have been working MLD support Association UK for many years under our Rare100 CSR scheme, a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative run in 2018.