CCHIT set to meet with healthcare open source advocates

A number of open source advocates, including myself, have been recommending for a while that CCHIT make its certification process more amenable and friendly to free and open source software (FOSS). I wanted to congratulate CCHIT for taking the request seriously – they agreed to meet with FOSS advocates at HIMMS. They’ve been considerate enough to setup a conference call capability so that people who can’t travel to Chicago can meet via screen share remotely (after all, open source developers don’t exactly have a travel budget).

Fred Trotter, one of FOSS leaders who helped coordinate the meeting with CCHIT has setup a Web 2.0 way of figuring out what the open source community might want from CCHIT. He sent the following request this morning:

Please help me determine what I will present as the FOSS community perspective at the upcoming CCHIT/FOSS meeting. I have setup a Google Moderator page for determining what suggestions, exactly, are considered as favorable to the larger community. The Google Moderator system allows you to propose issues, and allows others to vote on those issues. I will do my best to cover the top rated suggestions. I have created several initial suggestions based on my original contact with CCHIT.

Please find the page to contribute/vote on questions here:

http://moderator.appspot.com/#15/e=35c32&t=36f61

I’ve voted on what I think is important – and I would love it if you guys would do the same. It looks like the nice folks at CCHIT are willing to listen so we should be organized, consistent, and serious about our requests. Let’s not forget that they are a public-private initiative, funded in part by the government and in part by certification fees, with a specific mission. They can’t go outside their mission but if the community comes to them with ideas that fit in their mission they should be able to help us out.

Dennis Wilson, Certification Technology Director for CCHIT, sent out the following letter to most of us:

We have the web conference logistics established for the upcoming discussion on CCHIT certification of open source EHRs.  There are actually two sessions back-to-back, but we’re using the same web conferencing session and audio dial-in number:

      Date:   Monday, April 6, 2009

      Room 10d, Hyatt McCormick Conference  Center, Chicago

      Session #1  1:00 – 2:00 PM CDT

      Interoperability 09 and Beyond: a look at CCHIT’s roadmap for the future

      Session #2  2:00  – 3:00 PM CDT

      Open Source Forum: a dialogue on certification for open source EHRs

Here is the link to register for the webinar:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/429901059

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.  We will also be recording these sessions, and plan to make the media files available on the web for later downloads.

Although held in the vicinity of HIMSS to be convenient for those attending the conference, these are not HIMSS meetings, so no HIMSS registration is required to attend in person (or online).

I’m presenting in the first session, sharing our progress and plans on interop testing tools and processes.  I suspect most of you will be more interested in the second session.

The format of the second session is planned to be a discussion exchange.  Mark Leavitt, our chairman will be both participating and moderating, while I’ll be manning the questions/comments coming in through the webinar chat feature.

We are really looking forward to this session, and the opportunity to have a meaningful and constructive dialogue.  I know Mark already has thought of some interesting ideas to offer, and we’re hoping to hear your ideas too.