WorldVistA

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WorldVistA EHR is an alternative implementation of and based on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs electronic health record (EHR), Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA). It is licensed under the General Public License, GPL, and thus open-source software. It is owned by a charitable organization with the name WorldVistA. It is developed by medical and software professionals on a voluntary basis and not for profit. The group members loosely call themselves "Hardhats".

WorldVistA

WorldVistA was incorporated on March 18, 2002, as a non-profit corporation in the state of California, in the United States of America. It is a charitable organization approved by the US Internal Revenue Service under Section 501(c)(3) of the Federal Tax Code.

WorldVistA EHR was formed to extend and improve the VistA electronic health record, and to enable it for use outside of the original setting.

WorldVistA is developed by a series of physicians (and other medical professionals) and software professionals that donate their efforts as volunteers. This group loosely referred to themselves as Hardhats (and continues to do so) before the name of the project was officially changed to WorldVistA. WorldVistA has developed and distributes a "toaster" version of VistA, which is a self-contained software package that integrates both the MUMPS database (GT.M version) and the VistA software.In 2009, the self-installing Linux toaster version was enhanced with a GUI-based patient registration module, web interface, and other enhancements, and incorporated into a self-installing package for both Debian/Ubuntu and Red Hat Linux. This freely available version of WorldVistA is known as Astronaut VistA. This version is packaged with both an enhanced GUI as well as a web interface (which allows connection through an intranet or through the Internet). An introduction to this package is here in a PDF slide presentation. A similar package for Windows-based servers is in alpha (early development) stage[2].

On January 31, 2008 WorldVistA released WorldVista HER VOE/1.0.This is the only open source electronic medical record that meets Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) ambulatory electronic health record (EHR) criteria for 2006 [1]. Some of World Vista features include:

• Patient registration - It provides a patient data entry and data collection interface. • Clinical reminders for chronic disease management - Used as a clinical decision support system to aid and improve treatment decisions and improving patient care. • Clinical order entry - Used to order treatments, medication, or other medical related services. • Progress note templates - Used by health care provider for planning, documenting, and communicating patient care to nurses and other health care staff. • Results reporting - It permits each center to construct and run its own patients’ reports.

WorldVistA EHR also includes functionality tailored to meet the specific needs:

  • Ability to interface to existing practice management / billing systems, lab services and other applications
  • Scanning and inclusion of scanned documents into the medical record
  • Prescription finishing and faxing
  • Clinical quality measure reporting capabilities
  • Support for disease management, using clinical reminders
  • Templates for obstetrics/gynecology (OB/GYN) and pediatrics care

--NabilAjineh (talk) 18:53, 28 August 2014 (PDT) --Sfjafari 16:32, 4 September 2011 (CDT)

Purpose of WorldVistA

WorldVistA goes back to March 18, 2002 when it was first incorporated as non-profit organization in the state of California, in the United States of America. It has been known ever since as charitable organization that approved by the US Internal Revenue Service under Section 501(c)(3) of the Federal Tax Code.

Any doctor, nurse, or other healthcare provider caring for a patient anywhere in the world should have access to all relevant medical information about that patient and software support to help provide the best care possible. WorldVistA works to make that happen with a powerful, open-source, free medical software system called VistA (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture). WorldVistA works to: 1) Help physicians, clinics, and hospitals around the world learn, set up, and use VistA to improve medical care; 2) Continuously develop VistA to meet the changing needs of patients, physicians, and other medical professionals.

Medicine is complex, variously practiced, and changes continuously, so: 1) The users of medical software need to help steer its development so thoroughly that they become partners, co-developers; 2) The software must be highly adaptable to local medical practices; 3) The software must change continuously to keep up with changes in medicine; and yet 4) The process of changing medical software must protect patient health and privacy.

Drawing on experience with medical software going back four decades, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) originally designed VISTA's 1) software structure, 2) support, 3) software lifecycle, 4) community organization, 5) expertise lifecycle, 6) management, and 7) economic relationships to make these things possible.

WorldVistA works to adapt and extend the VA models and the values and principles on which they are based beyond the U.S. federal government. Only a system based on these principles can fulfill the promise of using computers to improve health for everyone, everywhere. WorldVistA intends to realize that dream.

--Sfjafari 16:43, 4 September 2011 (CDT)

WorldVistA EHR features:

The following features were added to the VistA software distributed through FOIA to better serve the needs of physician offices. • Simplified Installation – Clear and concise directions will be provided to install WorldVistA EHR. • Pediatrics – WorldVistA EHR provides the following pediatric functionality including: Pediatric progress note templates based on the Indian Health Services (IHS) progress note templates and American Academy of Pediatric Bright Futures templates. • OB/GYN Templates – WorldVistA EHR provides OB/GYN progress note templates based on the Indian Health Services (IHS) progress note templates. • Patient Registration – WorldVistA EHR has the ability to register patients of all types. New fields have been added to the registration process that are specific to physician offices. • Risk, Social and Medical Factors – For each new patient, the system has the capability to capture and store risk, social, and medical factors. WorldVistA EHR has added the following factors: Native language, Translator needed, Mother / Father – Country of birth, and Year arrived in U.S. • Medical Record Numbers Allowed – WorldVistA EHR was modified to allow physician offices to use social security numbers or medical record numbers to identify patients. • DOQ-IT (Doctor’s Office Quality-Information Technology) Reminders – WorldVistA EHR DOQ-IT Reminders include: o DOQ-IT Registration Reminders – Registration reminders are triggered once a patient meets eligibility requirements for the DOQ-IT program. o Clinical Reminders related to the Registered DOQ-IT measure o Codified Data – System supports the requirements for codified data specified by the DOQ-IT quality improvement measures. • Documentation – Online help is contained within the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) component of WorldVistA EHR. Technical manuals and User Guides are available with the WorldVistA EHR software. • Standard Orderable Files – Standard Laboratory and Medication orderable files will be included with WorldVistA EHR. These files consist of tests related to the DOQ-IT measures. In addition, the medication orderable file contains the top 100 most prescribed medications. • Pharmacy Functionalities – WorldVistA EHR has the ability to print prescriptions for signature and fax prescriptions to a local pharmacy with an electronic signature.

WorldVistA EHR capabilities: “Beyond the basics”

Beyond the basic functions and features of WorldVistA EHR, the system provides a structure for adding the following features:

• Laboratory Interface – WorldVistA EHR provides a platform for building interfaces to external lab services enabling automated order entry and results reporting. • Billing/Practice Management Interface – WorldVistA EHR provides an open source integration platform to build interfaces to Billing/Practice Management systems.


--Sfjafari 16:43, 4 September 2011 (CDT) --Sfjafari 16:32, 4 September 2011 (CDT)

Software Download Site

Software download instructions and Links

References

[1] CCHIT WorldVistA ambulatory certification

[2] [1]History

External links