VA's VistA, open-source electronic health record software, is available to anyone who wants to use it.

note from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org

The VistA / CPRS electronic health record (EHR) system radically changed the VA and made it the excellent health care system it is today.

The thanks for this goes to Dr. Kenneth Kizer who was told by President Bill Clinton to "fix it."  Kizer is now known as the "father" of the modern VA.

VistA / CPRS is open-source, basically free, software.

More below:

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Free From Uncle Sam: VA Software for Hospital EHR Systems

By James A. White

 As the New England Journal of Medicine reported in a study last month, only 1.5% of U.S. hospitals have adopted “comprehensive” electronic health records throughout their facilities and another 7.6% have basic systems installed in at least some portion of their operations. A key stumbling block to getting boosting such EHRs is cost, which can run $20 million to several times that amount for large hospitals.

But the WSJ’s Laura Landro today details how the government already has invested billions of dollars over two decades to develop a software for a records system that’s available free for any hospital that wants to use it. The system is run by the Veterans Administration and provides electronic services at more than 1,400 VA facilities.

Of course, while the so-called open-source software is free, it still costs money to adapt it for a hospital’s needs as well as to buy hardware and maintain it all. But Landro says the VA’s Midland Memorial Hospital in Texas paid less than $7 million for a full electronic medical-record system.

While there have been some missteps along the way – computers were new to some of the hospital’s staff, for one thing – the system has achieved notable success, Landro reports:

In the 18 months after the system went live hospital-wide in June 2006, the hospital reduced medication errors and patient deaths. Infection rates dropped 88% thanks to guidelines in the record system that prompted nurses to follow infection-control procedures, such as changing a dressing or following correct procedures when inserting a new IV.

PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant Dan Garrett says that while the VA’s software — dubbed VistA for the Veteran’s Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture — holds promise for some hospitals, it hasn’t been widely commercially proven, unlike offerings from for-profit vendors.