What a great opportunity this week to revisit a story I did a while back. Discovery Tech is delving into electronic health records, and the focus so far seems to be on the developed world. Well, as these coders at right could tell you, electronic health records may have even more impact on health in the developing world. These guys devote their time and skills to building out an open source, electronic medical record system called OpenMRS. The project has countless contributors, but the two main forces behind it are Partners in Health, and the Regenstrief Institute. Together, they make OpenMRS available, for free, via the Internet. Anyone around the world can download it, and begin to use it in their local hospital or clinic. Those local folks can also, in the true open source ethos, modify the program, and share those modifications with the rest of the community. When I reported on them last fall, OpenMRS was going strong, with users in Haiti, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.
So, I offer not one, but two audio podcasts for you. The first is for those of you who want a quick fix only. Here's the radio version of my piece on OpenMRS:
And if that piqued your interest, here's a longer version of my interview with Paul Biondich from Regenstrief and Hamish Fraser of Partners in Health. It begins with Paul Biondich giving a bit more background about how OpenMRS got its start:
(Photo by Clark Boyd)
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