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What is Vistapedia?

Vistapedia is a wiki resource for VistA (all variants including: WorldVistA EHR, vxVistA, Hui Openvista and Medsphere OpenVistA) and RPMS. Wikis are a place to document shared knowledge. The best example of a wiki is the eponymous Wikipedia. This wiki covers installation and configuration of DHCP derivatives such as VistA, RPMS and CHCS.

What is Vista?

VistA is a Electronic Health Record programmed by Federal (US) employees working for the Department of Veterans Affairs (previously Veterans Administration) for several decades, since the late 1970s. It's public domain software. It is considered by many to be a national treasure. For a more complete coverage of the question you should read What is VistA Really. This wiki does not just have what you can read in any high level press article, but the information that you need to understand its culture and its values.

The flavors of Vista

At the time I write this (June 21, 2009), there are four flavors of Vista:

• FOIA Vista (unlicensed public domain software) (Home) (Download)
• WorldVista (GPL licensed) (Home) (Download, Astronaut-Auto-Install)
• OpenVista (AGPL licensed) (Home) (Download)
• vxVista (Eclipse Public License - EPL) (Home) (not downloadable)

(You may hear about da Vinci Vista, VOE Vista, and Hui Vista. These don't exist and/or are not maintained anymore.)

Go to Which VistA for more information on the different flavors.

What is RPMS?

RPMS is another public domain Electronic Health Record, programmed by the Indian Health Service (IHS). It actually started in the late 60's, and thus predates Vista. From the 60's to the 80's, it was a different architecture. Since the 80's, it uses the same architecture as Vista. While RPMS shares a lot of features with Vista, it's much stronger in population-based and outpatient-based Electronic Health Records. Currently, it is not downloadable because IHS has not made a FOIA Gold database available, but it is expected to do so shortly. When it does, I will post a link here. Sam

I want a human to talk to!

Vista implementors and enthusiasts are on a mailing list called HardHats. It's on google groups. Follow this link to browse and join the group. Or email info at worldvista dot org.

Installation Guides

By far the easiest way to get an instance of VistA running is to use the Astronaut installers by Dr. Ignacio Valdes. The installers provide a simple way to install VistA using rpm or deb files. First you need to download and install either a debian based (like Ubuntu or Debian) or rpm based (like Fedora or CentOS) version of GNU/Linux. Then download the version of VistA you like from sourceforge below.

• Astronaut Nostromo OpenVistA(tm) Sourceforge page - rpm and deb installers for Medsphere's OpenVistA

• Astronaut WorldVistA(tm) Auto Installer - rpm and deb installers for WorldVista EHR

Then follow the instructions for installing an rpm or installing a deb depending on which version you chose. It helps if you already understand a little about GNU/Linux to get this working. If this seems a little over your head, you can get help with GNU/Linux at your local Linux Users Group.

Technical Information

Common Questions about VistA.

How does VistA work? This is the technology that you need to understand about VistA even if you really do not want to understand technology

Where do I Start? VistA is very well documented. Almost too well. This page help you find the information that you need, depending on what you are looking for. Another way to look at things is on the Old Main page.

? There are several products based on VA VistA, here is a list and some basic information.

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To get access, 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.