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VA Hopes to Engage Public in Health Care Innovation

by Jennifer Hoops
August 30, 2011

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced the launch of OSEHRA, the Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent. OSEHRA, an independent, nonprofit organization, is designed to oversee and coordinate various groups working on open source electronic health records (EHRs).

OSEHRA encourages community participation and innovation

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said, "We developed our open source strategy to engage the public and private sectors in the rapid advancement of our EHR software, which is central to the care we deliver to Veterans and servicemembers and to our joint EHR collaboration with the Department of Defense."

OSEHRA design is being driven by The Informatics Application Group and community feedback is welcome. Full technical operations are scheduled to begin this fall.

OSEHRA is part of a coordinated effort by the VA and the Department of Defense to create one EHR system for military personnel and veterans. For more information on OSEHRA, refer to the press release "VA Launches Open Source Custodian."

About the Author

Jennifer Hoops works as a project manager within the IT organization of a global manufacturing company. Her previous experience includes IT consulting and software sales. Prior to earning an MBA and becoming an IT professional, Jennifer earned a Bachelors degree in Economics and Music and spent several years as an independent music teacher.

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