Open Health Tools gets its first big test
Open Health Tools, the open source project launched this spring by Eclipse founder Skip McGaughey, now has its first big test.
The test comes in the form of a big code donation, Open HIE, or Open Health Information Exchange.
It consists of modules to link a master record to personal information, and to retrieve records from known locations. It's the center of a Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO).
The donor is the California Healthcare Foundation, and the donation was midwifed by two important open source companies, CollabNet and Palamida.
CollabNet provided its development platform to the project, and Palamida has already done a code review on the donated code base.
The software itself is descended from code used to create the failed Santa Barbara County Care Data Exchange in 2006. The idea of Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs) has since spread nationwide.
Why is this a test?
RHIOs are systems for moving data securely between agencies covered under HIPAA regulations. But they gain real power once they themselves are interconnected, creating a national system of health data.
The code donation gives OHT some "skin in the game." It also provides a means whereby poor regions can create their own RHIOs.
Once it is "at the table," so to speak," OHT is in a position to push for this interconnecton. Since it is not defending any particular vendor's position, it may be seen as an impartial, and honest broker of views.
So this is as much a test of negotiation and business savvy as a code contribution. RHIOs need standards, and OHT can help push them in that direction.
And if OHT can build a consensus covering the exchange of medical data, what else might it build consensus on?