The health care sector is set for a technology-driven transformation as the federal government pushes adoption of electronic health records and pursues national health information exchange. Hardly surprising, the Open Source Convention (OSCON) has a health care track. But will health care IT consultants embrace open source? Here's an overview.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am huge fan of Linux and open source. This is perhaps why I get so frustrated with the US health care industry and its general lack of interoperability. I could use many standards as an example, however, for this discussion I’m using the ASTM Continuity of Care Record (CCR) as an example.

Health is personal. Health Care is not. The term is a euphemism for Condition Treatment, and it's not about patients. It's about systems, and most of those are both proprietary and closed.

Since I run my own small business, I'm very interested in health care reform. You see, my tiny -- two-person -- company pays more than four figures a month for health insurance. Ow!

Hans-Holger Schmuhl has launched a new online medical portal that lists a number of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FOSS) projects aimed at the health care and medical professions. So far, more than 120 projects, in a number of categories, have been listed

Open source software benefits professionals in all industries: government, Internet, business, education, and even health care. Expensive software and subscriptions for anti virus systems, supporting electronic medical records and even phone or e-mail communications can put on a strain on small clinics as well as larger hospitals.

The system that Midland adopted is based on software originally written by doctors for doctors at the Veterans Health Administration, and it is what's called "open source,"

"If you care about FOSS generally, I need you to show up at the HIMSS meeting. If you care about FOSS in Health IT, it is especially important that you be there. I believe that FOSS is the only real hope for untangling the mess that is Health IT." - interview with Fred Trotter

The Southern California Linux Expo is proud to announce the second annual Demonstrating Open-Source Health Care Solutions (DOHCS). The event will be held on February 8, 2008 in Los Angeles, California in conjunction with the Sixth Annual Southern California Linux Expo.