Main Page

What is Vistapedia?

Vistapedia is a wiki for several variants of VistA (including WorldVistA, Medsphere OpenVistA, vxVistA, Hui Openvista), the Indian Health Service' RPMS, and the integrated VistA installer, Astronaut.

This wiki runs the same software as Wikipedia and editing this wiki is similar to editing Wikipedia articles. This wiki covers installation and configuration of DHCP derivatives such as VistA, RPMS and CHCS. It also serves as an introduction to the VistA Documentation Library for everyone outside the VA. Current events, development advances, and other news about the flavors of VistA are also posted here.

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Quick links:

Current events

The 20th VistA Community Meeting was larger and more energetic than before.

Contents

Contents of Vistapedia such as a Table of Contents equivalent can generally be found in:

• Special pages

Particularly in:

• Old Main Page
• Popular pages and
• Categories.

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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.

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.

There is a common Software Downloads page with pros and cons of each.

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

A very quick and easy way to get an instance of VistA running is to use the Astronaut installers by Dr. Ignacio Valdes (even though still beta as of January 2010).

• Astronaut Installers

However, there are several other methods, each with advantages and disadvantages. Please examine them carefully before deciding.

• Software Downloads

Detailed Information

• Meaningful Use Preliminary analysis of the complex and confusing requirements for stimulus payments by the US government.

• 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? Start here. This page helps you find the information that you need, depending on what you are looking for.

• FAQ Common Questions about VistA.

• Popular pages acts as an automatically generated FAQ. Other visitors may be asking the same questions you are, so look here to see what they have viewed.

• Categories is good for browsing.

• Special pages is a Table of Contents equivalent for Vistapedia itself.

• Old Main Page accesses many old but still valuable pages.

• VistA Community Challenges Technical features that VistA needs and issues that hold VistA development back. If VistA is not good enough for your environment, the reason should be listed here.

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.