Former Red Hat execs aim to open-source health care

It was bound to happen. With the U.S. government promising truckloads of cash to overhaul the U.S. health care system, while simultaneously making positive noises around open source, it was just a matter of time before someone connected the dots.

That someone appears to be Joanne Rohde, former executive vice president of worldwide operations at Red Hat, who has launched the Axial Project, a stealth-mode start-up that aims to "combin[e] the principles of Open Standards and Open Source...to connect all the parties in the Health ecosystem safely and securely."

It's a big task, but then, that's precisely what open source is good for tackling.

Indeed, as I've written before, the U.S. health care system, with its myriad of providers, insurers, etc. is ripe for open source. Open source isn't a panacea, but it has proved itself adept at resolving precisely this sort of complexity, with Linux and the various Apache projects as just two examples.

I've been talking with Rohde for at least a year now--most recently meeting for breakfast in Raleigh in April--and have enjoyed seeing her ideas germinate and flower. The company has gone through various guises (and names: as late as April, Rohde was calling the company EHRmail), and is now growing to meet the challenges ahead of it.

Axial has been quietly assembling a team of seasoned veterans from Rohde's Red Hat and UBS past, including Michael Yuan and John Casey, but most recently Matt Mattox, Red Hat's director of ISV alliances, who announced via e-mail his move to Axial:

(Credit: Matt Asay)

Axial has not yet raised venture funding, but planned to raise its seed money through alternative avenues, at least as of my April conversation with Rohde. Given the company's mission--to build an integration tool kit around a message broker for health IT companies, universities, and corporations that allows sending and receiving of data across existing infrastructures--coupled with its open-source approach and roster of seasoned executives, I'm guessing funding won't be an issue.

The real issue is whether even open source is powerful enough to fix the U.S. health care system. Good luck to Mattox, Rohde, and the Axial Project team as you seek to answer that question in the affirmative.

Follow me on Twitter @mjasay.

[kit_plummer]

From a few months back:

"50 Successful Open Source Projects that are Changing Medicine" ->

http://nursingassistantguides.com/2009/50-successful-open-source-projects-that-are-changing-medicine/

Matt, what about CCHIT certification? Wasn't there some movement to get a waiver for FOSS healthcare software?

Failing that, having to get CCHIT certification every time the code is updated could work against the "release early, release often" mantra of FOSS. And it would certainly limit FOSS healthcare code to that coming from well-funded companies.
Comments?

[pentest]

Why would this have to be released early and often?

There is a world of difference between desktop software and specialized software.

[monkeyfun14]

@pentest

Because with open source software...

The flaws can be seen by everyone including people who will use MALICIOUSLY so things need to be patched up quickly and this is why Open Source is updated so much when this is limited i'm sure you can see where it becomes a problem.

[rapier1]

I don't necessarily believe they're going to need CCHIT certification. It seems to me like they're trying to build a new HL7 router but possibly one that they'll position to cross HIPAA realms. Best of luck to them.

[James Anderson Merritt]

I doubt that "open source" can "fix" the US health care system, though it might be able to grease the wheels of bureaucracy a bit and perhaps even improve care to some extent. But the real problems of the system are ... well, systemic, and fundamental. We do not have a "free market" health care system. Health care in the US is highly regulated on one hand, and dominated by government funding programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, on the other. The passage of HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, increased and consolidated federal control over health care; more recent developments, up to and including single-payer have only been, or only threaten to be, the final nails in the coffin lid.

Open source could be a great approach to solving various problems in the industry, were we to embrace truly free-market health care, such that people used insurance only for catastrophic care, while for the most part paying for routine or common goods and procedures -- even typical hospital stays -- out of pocket. Market forces -- including the adoption of open source technologies -- can drive down prices for medical/pharmaceutical goods and fees for services, but only if we change or eliminate laws that have prevented those forces from working for decades.

Right now, US medicine is in a mode of having to ask and wait for permission -- usually from one or more government agencies -- before making any moves at all. It is costly, time-consuming, and often dauntingly frustrating, to jump through the increasingly many bureaucratic hoops that are thrown in the way of medical professionals and vendors. Decision-making power and the liberty of taking initiative must once again devolve to doctors, vendors, and patients. That will give us the best shot at minimizing costs, prices, and fees. In such an environment, I would expect Open Source to play a big and positive role, but under the current circumstances, my expectations are greatly diminished. I hope I'm wrong.

[davidneeley]

The largest problem is data compatibility standards, followed by data security issues driven by HIPPAA. Getting sufficient buy-in for a very complete data interchange standard from all concerned parties may be extremely troublesome--unless and until the government mandates some sort of solution, for example. This may be the sort of application that may work best in the cloud computing environment, if the privacy and security issues can be resolved. There is no doubt, though, that electronic medical records must advance if we are to have truly meaningful health care reform.

[chechen_one]

I bought a Cookie Puss from a John Casey once. It can't be the same John Casey.