I saw an article today on computerworld regarding the positives and negatives of open source EHR. The article is very well written and is a must read for anyone thinking about implementing EHR.
To summarize here are a list of positive and negative reasons for using open source EHR:
Positive:
- most open source EHR is modeled based on the proven record of VistA (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture)
- cheaper cost
- Allow better data exchange than commercialized products
Negative:
- Does not implement specific module needed. (E.g. patient registration modules)
- Lack of pre-build interfaces that are available to commercial products
- text-based terminal interface makes adding a new patient tedious