A Defense Department media contractor is reporting that three Iraqi government healthcare organizations will test at a Baghdad military hospital an open-source version of the VistA electronic health-record system developed and used by the Veterans Affairs Department.
According to a story posted Monday on the website of the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System, a U.S. military media outlet, the Iraqi ministries of Defense and Health and the Kurdistan Ministry of Health signed an agreement earlier this month to implement the open-source WorldVistA software system at the Al Muthana Hospital in Baghdad. The 50-bed Iraqi military hospital opened in 2009. The EHR should be in place by October, the story said.
Versions of the VA's EHR have been installed elsewhere in the Middle East in Egypt and, more recently, in Jordan. A VA spokesperson was unavailable for comment at deadline.
Earlier this month, the VA posted to FedBizOps, a federal procurement website, a formal request for information to assist it in "evaluating the viability of including open-source (OS) software as a component of IT development within the VistA electronic health record (EHR) architecture."
Crawford Communications of Atlanta provides the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System under a contract with the Army, according to Crawford's website. The system provides public affairs video, audio, still imagery and print products; coordinates interviews with soldiers and commanders in a combat zone; and maintains an archive for ongoing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, according to the site.
