Open-Source Software and Health Information Technology

The open-source software development model emerged as a serious competitor to proprietary software development models. Open-source development relies on the efforts of voluntary individuals and organizations to develop, test and use the software. This first essay, focuses on understanding the development process of open-source systems by looking at the communication between the two groups as an important indicator of the sophistication of the system. We argue that this continuous feedback loop is a determining factor of the system evolution. The essay presents a theory regarding it, develops its constructs and suggests a methodology to test the theory. The second essay focuses on the adoption of open-source Health Information Technology (HIT) in the delivery of health care. More specifically, it looks into the challenges that face the adoption and the implementation of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems. Open-Source software is an alternative to proprietary software. The study examines the specifics of open-source EMR systems in order to see how such systems may alleviate some of the challenges of the adoption and the implementation of traditional proprietary EMR systems.