Open source and international health informatics: placebo or panacea?

The authors explore the history of open source software and how the future of this paradigm can affect global changes to healthcare informatics. They identify four key requirements: 1 to establish an international health informatics open source (IHI-OS) community 2 to develop a kernel that is broad enough but also provides sufficient detail to be usable across international boundaries and across medical disciplines 3 to develop a business case for international health informatics open source 4 to develop international standards.