[med-svn] r11609 - trunk/packages/vista/trunk/debian

[Luis Ibanez]

Author: luisibanez-guest
Date: 2012-07-06 23:31:43 +0000 (Fri, 06 Jul 2012)
New Revision: 11609

Added:
   trunk/packages/vista/trunk/debian/README.Debian
Modified:
   trunk/packages/vista/trunk/debian/changelog
Log:
ENH: Put in a README.Debian file a summarized background
     of the VistA ecosystem.



Added: trunk/packages/vista/trunk/debian/README.Debian
===================================================================
--- trunk/packages/vista/trunk/debian/README.Debian	                        (rev 0)
+++ trunk/packages/vista/trunk/debian/README.Debian	2012-07-06 23:31:43 UTC (rev 11609)
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+Some background and perspective about VistA.
+
+VistA stands for:
+Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture
+
+
+a) VistA : was developed by Federal Employees
+   at the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
+   http://www.va.gov/vista_monograph/
+
+
+b) As a consequence VistA is not copyrighted,
+   and it is in the Public Domain.
+
+
+c) Until 2011, the normal way to get the source code of
+   VistA was to place a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
+   request to the VA. The software that is delivered through
+   this mechanism is redacted. Many pieces are removed from
+   it, in particular: pieces pertaining to encryption, and
+   some modules that are subject to proprietary licenses.
+
+
+d) For several years, different organizations have obtained
+   this FOIA versions of VistA from the VA and have
+   recomposed the missing parts in order to create a
+   full working distribution.
+
+   Examples of these organizations are:
+
+       - WorldVista (a non-profit organization)
+       - Medsphere (a commercial company)
+       - DSS Inc. (a commercial company)
+
+
+e) The WorldVistA distribution has been used for many
+   VistA deployments, particularly one in the country of
+   Jordan, and a very successful one in the Oroville
+   Hospital in California.
+http://openhealthnews.com/blogs/ramaduro/2011-11-20/oroville-vista-implementation-raises-bar
+
+
+f) Although the VA has been the official development
+   organization for VistA, and VistA has been in the Public
+   Domain, the VA has lacked a mechanism for benefiting
+   from the improvements made to VistA outside of the VA.
+
+   In order to fix that, in 2011, the VA launched an organization
+   to create an Open Source environment for VistA, and to create
+   the conditions by which VistA could continue to grow and improve,
+   this time taking advantage of all what is great and good from
+   open source software practices and open source communities.
+
+
+g) This organization is called OSEHRA:
+   http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2153
+   http://osehra.org/
+
+   One of the missions of OSEHRA is to work along with all
+   the other participants of the VistA ecosystem, and build a
+   stronger community.
+
+
+h) Multiple organizations have created distributions of
+   VistA. They could be listed as follows:
+
+   -  VistA FOIA :   The distribution coming from the VA
+   -  WorldVista :   The distribution coming from WorldVista non-profit
+   -  vxVistA:       The distribution from DSS Inc.
+   -  OpenVista:     The distribution from Medsphere.
+
+
+i) There are also cousins of VistA, that have followed parallel
+   evolution tracks, and are much more independent than a
+   distribution. In particular:
+
+   - RPMS : From the US Indian Health Service (IHS)
+   - CHCS : From the US Department of Defense
+
+
+j) VistA is written in M/MUMPS, which is a programming language combined
+   with a NoSQL database. Most of the EHR systems are written in MUMPS,
+   both in the private and the public sector. Including, for example:
+   VistA, CHCS, RPMS, Epic, Centricity and Meditech.
+

Modified: trunk/packages/vista/trunk/debian/changelog
===================================================================
--- trunk/packages/vista/trunk/debian/changelog	2012-07-06 19:55:56 UTC (rev 11608)
+++ trunk/packages/vista/trunk/debian/changelog	2012-07-06 23:31:43 UTC (rev 11609)
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
 
   [ Luis Ibanez ]
   * Initial attempt to package (Closes: #541242)
+  * Added README.Debian with summarized description of the VistA ecosystem.
 
  -- Luis Ibanez <luis.ibanez at kitware.com>  Wed, 4 Jul 2012 17:16:45 -0500