Revision as of 22:45, 30 January 2010

What is Vistapedia?

Vistapedia is a wiki for several varieties of the public-domain version of the Veteran Administration's VistA EHR software (WorldVistA, Medsphere's OpenVistA, vxVistA, and FOIA VistA). Information about the integrated VistA installer called Astronaut and the Indian Health Service' RPMS EHR is also contained within these pages.

This wiki covers installation and configuration of these DHCP derivatives (VistA, RPMS and CHCS). It also serves as an introduction to the VistA Documentation Library for everyone outside the VA. Current events, development advances, and other news about the flavors of VistA are also posted here.

This wiki runs the same software as Wikipedia; using it is similar to using Wikipedia.

Quick links:

Current events

The 20th VistA Community Meeting was larger and more energetic than before.

Software Downloads

• WorldVistA
• OpenVistA
• vxVistA

Other Content

• Old Main Page
• Popular pages and
• Categories.

What is Vista?

VistA is a public-domain Electronic Health Record programmed by Federal (US) employees working for the Department of Veterans Affairs (previously Veterans Administration) for several decades. It is software in the public domain and is considered by many to be a national treasure.

For more info, see this page or the Wikipedia article on VistA.

The versions of VistA

There are several current versions of VistA used outside of the VA:

• WorldVista (GPL licensed) (Home) (Download) (Astronaut installer)
• OpenVista (AGPL licensed) (Home) (Download) (Astronaut installer)
• vxVista (EPL) (Home) (not downloadable)
• FOIA Vista (unlicensed public domain software) (Home) (Download)

(Other versions such as da Vinci Vista, VOE Vista, and Hui Vista no longer exist or are no longer maintained.) Which VistA has more information on the different versions. The Software Downloads page also has pros and cons of each.

Installation Guides

• Astronaut VistA -- an integrated installer for several varieties of VistA

• Software Downloads -- other VistA installation methods

What is RPMS?

RPMS is a public domain Electronic Health Record that is used by the Indian Health Service (IHS). Prior to the 1980s it used a different architecture from VistA, but since the 80's it has shared a large amount of its architecture with VistA. It is strong in population-based and outpatient-based outcomes reporting. It is not currently available for download (because IHS has not made a FOIA Gold database available), but may be available in the future.

Detailed Information

• Meaningful Use -- analyses of the EHR requirements to qualify for stimulus funds from the US government.

• How does VistA work? -- basic information about VistA's components.

• Where do I Start? -- Start here.

• FAQ -- common Questions about VistA.

• Popular pages -- frequently viewed pages in this wiki.

• Categories -- good for browsing.

• Special pages -- a form of Table of Contents for this wiki.

• Old Main Page -- old but still valuable pages (kind of like some of our contributors).

• VistA Community Challenges -- the issues we're trying to solve currently.

Other resources

VistA enthusiasts and developers connect through the HardHats Google Group. For more info, email: info at worldvista dot org.

To get access to Vistapedia, contact David Whitten ( whitten at worldvista.org ) through an e-mail, or phone 713 870 3834 to get an account. Please send a contact telephone number with your e-mail, and/or have an e-mail address ready when you call. (I need both.) Please decide on your preferred User name and send it as well. We have provided a page for new users and their current status. Thank you.