A call for open source values in health care

The Committee for Economic Development, a 65-year old advocacy group which claims to represent "the best in business thinking," has issued a clarion call for open source values in medicine.

That's the only way to read its new report on health care (PDF). (Pictured are the group's current leaders, from its web site. Scintillating, aren't they?)

The headline folks will take from this is that they want Electronic Medical Records, and they want those records combined into giant databases which can drive research.

But that's a result, not a cause, of their thinking. They do state that openness should not extend to specific patient records.

Here is what I consider the key point:

The Council has found that an increased degree of openness often leads to greater innovation because it allows contributions to a work from more individuals whose differing insights and experiences can add considerable value.

That's a fairly concise definition of what I call open source values. Other such values, transparency and consensus, are also endorsed throughout the report.

Groups like the CED have generally been ignored this decade, derided as "liberal" by conservative ideologues. But their influence seems destined to increase regardless of which party wins this year's elections.

This call for open source values in the health care policy is bound to resonate, and it will be fascinating to see how the proprietary vendors of medical devices and drugs react to it. Not to mention those in computing.