Projects

Welcome to the WorldVistA "Brainstorming" Projects Page

The Projects page is the working directory of WorldVistA project ideas. All project concept are welcome - new and old.

The Process

1. Project ideas and description will be collected and published on this page.
2. High-level benefit analysis will be applied.
3. Suggestions will be reviewed, prioritized and endorsed by the WorldVistA leadership.
4. Funding will be sought and teams will be organized for projects that are determined to be of high value and show promise of successful completion.

Brainstorming Rules:

1. Offer and collect as many ideas as possible. 
2. All ideas are valuable, the more the better. One crazy idea spawns three rational ideas. 
3. Don't spend time discussing details during brainstorming phase. Ideas submitted will be analyzed  and deconstructed at length later...
4. Do not be critical of ideas, it stifles the process and make creative thinkers go back into the box.
5. Build on other ideas. Linking one idea to another is powerful.
6. Capture all ideas and make them visible.
7. Set a time limit. This iteration closes on 07/06/2007.

Please supply the following:

• Project title
• Brief description
• Benefit provided
• Your name (so we know who to ask for clarification -- anonymous posts are accepted.)
• Email address (optional)
• link to projects.worldvista.org Project page if exists

(If you would rather submit your project ideas via email -- send them to webmaster@members.worldvista.org with the subject line: WorldVistA Projects) 

Please add your project suggestion(s) here:

Chris Richardson (to be detailed)

• Training Ideas - Tools, Teachers, and Techniques
• I18N (Internationalization) - Issues and Answers
• Transport of Medical and Health Records
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Developments and Impacts
• New Organizations, MDC (new) and VDC (even newer)
• Ontologies and how VistA fits in with them.

Nancy Anthracite <p> Title: LabCorp Interface Description:Working with LabCorp to make their interface for VistA with the VA generally available. Benefits: Very fast hookups to LabCorp anywhere in the US Status: A programmer is working on making it easy to import the LabCorp Compendium into VistA and to take in unsolicited results. This will be an HL7 interface NOT utilizing Mirth because it is already virtually completely built to interface with VistA as is. Name: Nancy Anthracite Email: nancy@worldvista.org Title: Mental Health Assistant Benefits:Mental Health Assistant provides for the administration and scoring of Mental Health tests both by staff and by patients. This has become particularly important because public mental health hospitals and programs are taking a big interest in using VistA and because of the push to have the public sector help to support the returning veterans with PTSD Description: Mental Health Assistant does not currently fully function with VistA. It will take a little more work to get everything working properly and it may mean waiting for the next iteration to be released in the future. However, we are making progress. Name: Nancy Anthracite Title: Demographic and Insurance Information Improvement Project Description: Identifying and creating an appropriate place for all of the data that various types of practices need to collect for demographics and insurance and trying to reach a consensus as to where everything should be mapped to. Benefit: Increase ease of adoption and use for everyone interested in VistA Name: Nancy Anthracite Email: nancy@worldvista.org Title: Open Source Practice Management Interfaces Description: Collecting and perhaps collectively hiring folks to make interfaces with practice management systems that will allow the interface to be open source Benefit: Ease of adoption and lower cost per practice if the programming work is paid for collectively Name: Nancy Anthracite Email: nancy@worldvista.org Title: Open Source Lab Interfaces Description: Collecting and collectively creating lab interfaces to be used with Mirth for those la Benefit: Ease of adoption and lower cost per practice if the programming work is paid for collectively or done by volunteers Name: Nancy Anthracite Email: nancy@worldvista.org Title: Template, Reminder and Object Repository Description: A source and hopefully some sort of rating system to point out the best of the best templates and objects for VistA Benefit: Improved functionality for all users of VistA Name: Nancy Anthracite Email: nancy@worldvista.org Title: Spread Sheet/Flow Sheet capability for VistA Description: The VA is working to include this is VistA. It may be some time before it is ready and we could use it now. Hopefully we could accomplish this without stepping on what they are doing Benefit: Allowing improved functionality for VistA in several areas, especially in ICU, OB, and long term care Name: Nancy Anthracite Email: nancy@worldvista.org Title: VistA for Nursing Homes Description: There is a new MDS and data collection instrument coming out of CMS. This would integrate the data collection for those things necessary into the work flow of VistA so the separate tools are not needed to provide this functionality Benefit: Nursing Homes are poorly funded and could use the increased safety, etc., that could be provided by VistA. Integrating this functionality into VistA could increase the ease of adoption. Nursing homes usually need to purchase this software. Better they utilize VistA with the additional capabilities it has instead. Title: Biosense for VistA Description: CDC has a program to collect real time data to support recognition of epidemics and terrorist attacks Benefit: Provide nationwide, opt-in reporting capability to increase the ability of the CDC to pick up a problem. Also, to provide the same capability to the states that are taking an interest in doing their own statewide surveillance and for those world-wide who might like to do the same. Name: Nancy Anthracite Email: nancy@worldvista.org Title: Pediatric Growth Charts for VistA Description; Integration of the ability to display, initially the CDC growth charts, but eventually WHO and growth charts for diverse ethnicities and world locations in VistA Benefits: Needed by pediatricians everywhere. CDC level capability needed for CCHIT certification. Name: Nancy Anthracite Email: nancy@worldvista.org Title: VistA Education Server Description: Demo installations of VistA offered to Universities for Education. Mock patient data and may be entered, etc. Server to be hosted by Hewlett Packard beginning June 26, 2006. Benefit: Colleges have multiple uses for a training EMR from class simulations to demonstrations of the functionality of medical record systems. It will also raise the awareness of this open source record system. </pre> <p>Peter Bodtke (to be detailed)

• Internationalization (support foreign languages, i.e. Spanish) 
• Patch stream updating system (does this project need assistance?)
• Marketing and Public Relations: WorldVistA organization and WorldVistA EHR VOE V1.0 software package
• Installers (WorldVistA EHR VOE w/Registration GUI, VistA/G.TM/Linux)
• Integration - localization interface wizards
• Achieve United Nations NGO status
• Standard Development Architect and Tools
• VistA Documentation Repository
• Educational materials / training materials / book
• VistA Demo Appliance V1.2 (next iteration, including "VistA link", Vitals, Patient Registration GUI)
• Community surveys (members skills and needs, adopters registry, integrators registry)

Project topic found on VistApedia (anonymous and other sources) (to be detailed)

• OpenForum (not sure what this project team had in mind)
• Pediatrics Package (will IHS templates suffice?)
• OB/GYN Package (will IHS templates suffice?)
• Billing Package
• Configuration and Installation
• Ambulatory Care Data Capture
• WorldVistA EHR / VOE FAQs need to be updated
• An information / press kit is needed with key articles, links to demos, etc.
• WorldVistA.org links to software need to be edited
• Combine and edit SourceForge sites (VOE project, WorldVistA EHR, WorldVistA, and VistAOutreach) Add abstract/index and improve naming conventions for software

Kevin Toppenberg (kdtop)

• Multiple language support (I am working on this) 
• Server data "Save As"... i.e. ability to export site-specific data, for import into another installation. This would make VistA analogous to Word, which could open, close, transfer, share etc. data sets.
• Better installation and configuration tools
• Enable CPRS to run on Linux