Healthcare

Open Source, Open Standards, Blue Sky

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Here's a link to my presentation on the economics of open source, given at HealthCamp MD. A few salient points from this talk:

  • Open source makes economic sense for corporations, because it allows them to invest their resources in differential technology development, instead of spending across the board to re-invent the wheel
  • We are shifting from a 20th-century economic model based on proprietary intellectual property to one based on open source and open standards.

Why can't my test results look like this? (1)

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This patient-centric diagram combines results for 10 different tests into one single graphic.

The bar chart sorts the results based on how high or low they they are -- relative to their respective acceptable ranges. Results that are low are to the left, and results that are high appear to the right. The bars are split into four areas:

  1. results below the acceptable range
  2. results in the bottom half of the acceptable range
  3. results in the top half of the acceptable range

What’s the role of open source in healthcare reform?

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The debate around healthcare reform and "meaningful use" has managed to stir some passions, but there's been almost no mention of open source being used as an approach for health informatics (EHRs, EMRs, PHRs, and HIE).

Standards that are not free are a monopoly in disguise.

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If, for example, the AMA's Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes become the national standard for documenting medical procedures, then HITSP will give the AMA a permanent franchise on the codes. The AMA effectively will have permanent license to charge exorbitant rates for access these codes -- which it already does.

Using expensive codes for industry standards is unheard of in the software industry. You can charge for high-end development tools like Visual Studio, you can charge for server licenses, or you can charge for data like a mailing list, but standards are generally free.

A travelogue from the Isles of Healthcare (part 1)

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To this designer, the past couple months have a been a strange trip to the surreal island that is the healthcare industry. While the rest of the world has been shaped by gut-wrenching change, healthcare has been on its own virtual Galapagos, evolving at its own pace.

The world has caught up to this island oasis, bringing with it the Darwinian forces of technology and the market, threatening the industry's very sustainability. It needs to cope quickly -- and embrace survival strategies that have worked for the rest of the world.

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