[FOSS_health] Interoperability - GK3 Panel Session

[Molly Cheah]

True, but like with most datelines, stretchibility (if there is such a 
word) appears to be the norm. I had since posted IDRC's initial crack at 
revising the summary for comments/modify and I had also given my 
comments. Please take a look at that.

Molly
Joseph Dal Molin wrote:

> Unfortunately it was well past the end of the business day here in 
> Ontario (Ottawa is in Ontario) when this message was received so I am 
> not sure that these comments will be helpful given the deadline IDRC 
> gave you. In any case.... here goes: Interoperability helps connect 
> the dots and provide the framework to support feedback loops in health 
> systems. This is essential to support continuous evidence based 
> improvement of health care delivery etc. as well as providing evidence 
> based decision support at the point of care. FOSS should make 
> connecting the dots easier and faster to achieve. Where I got stumped 
> is thinking of examples from the developing world....you might want to 
> look at the report I did for IDRC last fall that fed into the Panacea 
> project.
>
> Joseph
>
> Molly Cheah wrote:
>
>> Joseph, it would be more useful if comments is supported by 
>> suggestions/examples.
>> Anyway, this is IDRC's suggested proposal:
>>
>>> *Title*: Health outcomes: The role of ICT applications, standards 
>>> and practices
>>>
>>> *Overview*: This panel examines the central issue of health outcomes 
>>> through the lens of innovative ICT applications, standards and 
>>> practices in developing countries. The session provides an inclusive 
>>> overview of key issues pertaining to: changing health landscapes and 
>>> realities, specific examples highlighting ICT-enabled solutions, and 
>>> crosscutting issues of standards and interoperability of health 
>>> systems – including the role of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).
>>>
>>> Developed in a way to stimulate discussion within and among the 
>>> panelists and audience members, the panel balances both practical 
>>> and theoretical considerations, questions and concerns related to 
>>> the role of ICTs in achieving beneficial health outcomes.
>>>
>> The above suggestion came in while I was asleep and have yet the 
>> opportunity to respond. My reaction is the missing "open" to preceed 
>> standards.
>> Comments please? IDRC wants the final comments end of the day (Ottawa 
>> time).
>>
>> Molly
>> Joseph Dal Molin wrote:
>>
>>> There is a direct connection between "interoperability" and the 
>>> "usefulness of ICTs in relation to health outcomes". Ignoring the 
>>> semantics of what exactly "interoperability" means... for the GK3 
>>> audience it will have a very general interpretation... I suggest you 
>>> pursue that avenue to link the two session abstracts.
>>>
>>> Joseph
>>>
>>> Molly Cheah wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear all,
>>>>
>>>> As a follow-up of the discussion on interoperability and Lee 
>>>> Seldon's summary, those who attended the OSHCA conference in KL in 
>>>> May will remember that OSHCA had submitted a proposal to present at 
>>>> a panel session "ICTs and Health" at GK3 in KL in December 2007. 
>>>> The session title may be modified to make it sound more attractive. 
>>>> See 
>>>> http://www.globalknowledge.org/gkps_portal/index.cfm?&menuid=627&parentid=676 
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> OSHCA's submission had to go through IDRC as a partner because 
>>>> OSHCA is not a member of Globalknowledge.org. Recent update from 
>>>> IDRC is that OSHCA's submission had been merged with IDRC's own 
>>>> submission to become a panel session on the main conference to be 
>>>> restructured and renamed.
>>>>
>>>> The original submissions are as follows:
>>>>
>>>> Session Summary from OSHCA:*
>>>> *
>>>>
>>>> "Open Source Health Care Alliance (OSHCA) believes that Free/Open 
>>>> Source Health Care Software will provide a viable and sustainable 
>>>> alternative in mainstream Information and Communication 
>>>> Technologies (ICT) for positive impact in health outcomes as 
>>>> adjunct to building a global knowledge society. Ability to share 
>>>> data in healthcare provides the greatest potential for such impact. 
>>>> The need for interoperability, open standards and data exchange in 
>>>> FOSS technology is felt most in the developing world. Many FOSS 
>>>> applications in healthcare have in fact been developed in relative 
>>>> isolation from each other. Notwithstanding their commitment to 
>>>> being open and standards compliant, there currently is no “forum” 
>>>> and facility to test and develop interoperability among FOSS health 
>>>> applications. Hence its crucial that these issues are addressed if 
>>>> moving the FOSS agenda for health especially in developing 
>>>> countries is to become a reality."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Session Summary from IDRC:
>>>> "This panel discussion will focus on numerous issues related to the 
>>>> usefulness of ICTs in relation to health outcomes. It will explore 
>>>> the different experiences various partners have had with using 
>>>> ICT-enabled health applications in developing countries. Amongst 
>>>> the key areas the panel will focus on, special attention will be 
>>>> placed on ICT interventions in the area of prevention, 
>>>> administration, clinical uses, education and research. More 
>>>> specifically, panelists will describe how ICTs can prevent the 
>>>> spread of diseases, improve the efficiency of health systems and 
>>>> make treatments more effective."
>>>>
>>>> Unfortunately, time is not on our side for refining these changes 
>>>> but I have communicated with IDRC that it is agreeable that the 
>>>> amended approaches for the GK3 panel should be seen seamlessly and 
>>>> to go beyond individual applications. IDRC has earmarked the 
>>>> presentation of the PANACeA project and OpenMRS at GK3. For us on 
>>>> this mailing list the discussions had gone beyond how to have 
>>>> interoperability to work but actually planning to test such 
>>>> interoperability concepts in real locations and we already have a 
>>>> summary of the discussions from Lee Seldon posted here.
>>>>
>>>> For the GK3 presentation amended proposal, in addition to 
>>>> presenting issues on using open standards to address 
>>>> interoperability and therefore enabling data exchange, we should be 
>>>> able to put together several examples of interoperability 
>>>> initiatives among FOSS health applications for the actual 
>>>> presentation in December. Discussions to be included should also 
>>>> evolve around the different types/levels of interoperability and 
>>>> whether its sufficient to have "functional" interoperability and 
>>>> the use of specific message format for communications. In 
>>>> discussing options, it may be necessary to touch on how 
>>>> interoperability works, features, how to implement, standards 
>>>> compliance, advantages, disadvantages etc.
>>>>
>>>> I hope these ideas may be considered for the merged proposal texts 
>>>> but if any of you would like to express further views, please 
>>>> express them here on this list so that I can include them in my 
>>>> responses to IDRC.
>>>>
>>>> Rgds,
>>>> Molly
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>>>>
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>>
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