dhis2-users team mailing list archive

[Knut Staring <knutst@xxxxxxxxx>]

Interesting discussion on partnerships and business models from the
OpenMRS list.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Thomas <pihdave@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 2:15 PM
Subject: Re: [OPENMRS-IMPLEMENTERS] partner openmrs
To: openmrs-implement-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Are there lessons to be learned from VistA?

d

On 12/6/2010 3:05 PM, Hamish Fraser wrote:
>
> This a very important conversation. We in the OpenMRS community are pioneers
> in the open source health care software field and therefore having to work
> out some of these issues. This question comes up a lot and needs to be
> looked at in the context of each project.
>
> One important consideration is that medical record software usually needs a
> lot of configuration and customization for each hospital or health system.
> This is often the largest cost of EMR contracts in big US hospitals. So
> taking OpenMRS and customizing it to a health system in a new country will
> usually require a fair amount of paid or voluntary programming. That is
> certainly our experience at PIH. A proprietary software company will build
> into their fee:
> 1) the basic license cost
> 2) the customization costs
> 3) the set up costs (maybe including hardware, networking etc.)
> 4) the staff training costs (users, data management, maybe IT support)
> 5) some ongoing support costs
> 6) their profit
>
> We end up breaking all these out which can be good in principle for
> developing countries but is often more complicated.
>
> So I have been asked to set up OpenMRS-TB in some new countries (OpenMRS-TB
> is a distribution of OpenMRS that we customized at PIH to support drug
> resistant and standard TB management). We got a grant to do the initial
> customization of OpenMRS (new concepts, modules for displays, forms,
> reports) and could request payment from a country, which would likely come
> from their funder like the Global Fund, to set up the system.
>
> For sites where we have OpenMRS development and implementation partners such
> as Rwanda then this process is fairly easy to map out. For some new
> countries in Asia that don't have OpenMRS experience it is more tricky.
>
> So back to the original question of who supports core development. Sometimes
> as with OpenMRS-TB we can fundraise for that work as it is considered a
> public good. The ongoing customization and bug fixing by implementation
> partners is also a valuable part of the work as long as it is shared with
> the community. Perhaps we will evolve to where the support costs going
> forward include the services of a local IT company and some small percentage
> pays for expert core OpenMRS programming support. I would be interested in
> thoughts about this, it is hard to setup in a practical way.
>
> Overall I think it is important to look at total cost of ownership of the
> software, and budget for items 2-5 above, and in the case of a private
> company for 6 also but based on the work done in the country rather than the
> software code. While you can't charge for the software exclusively (anyone
> can download it) there are situations where you might build software that
> uses OpenMRS as the platform but has one or more proprietary modules and
> charge for the combination. I am not really in favor of that approach
> because it reduces the size of the open community.
>
> Once you budget for all this then you have a valid comparison for the MOH or
> a hospital between an OpenMRS implementation and a proprietary system. It is
> important to highlight the possible "sting in the tail" of proprietary
> system that charge rising license fees each year or charge large fees for
> future fixes.
> Regards
>
> Hamish
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: implementers@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:implementers@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
> Of Prof. Kayode Odusote
> Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 6:28 AM
> To: openmrs-implement-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [OPENMRS-IMPLEMENTERS] partner openmrs
>
> I agree it is a good question but what has not been clearly stated by Julius
> is what wants to charge fees for?  If he is wants to charge fees for the
> codes, then it is totally wrong and not in the spirit of Open Source
> Software.  If he wants to charge fees for consultancy support for
> implementation, staff training, etc  then I think he is entitled to that.
> Since if he did not provide that service then the institution would need to
> employ people to do it.
>
> Open Source Software is not totally free - it costs money to implement and
> support the institution and someone needs to pay for that.  However, the
> principle to my mind is that the code is freely available for all to share
> and contribute to its development under an agreed licence.
>
> Kayode
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: implementers@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:implementers@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
> Of Julius Awakame
> Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 11:32 PM
> To: openmrs-implement-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [OPENMRS-IMPLEMENTERS] partner openmrs
>
> Can I help here while we are on this topic. If for example I have an OpenMRS
> system I am sharing between several practices for a fee. I will still need
> to be supported by the wider developer/implementer community. What will be
> the arrangement by which I will put something back into openMRS. If I am
> running a training program for implementers or end users and then ask them
> to request help from the community when they are stuck. How are we going to
> fund the expansion of developers/implementers who will support the
> increasingly growing ecosystem?
>
> *******************
> Julius Awakame MD, MSc
> PhD Research Student,
> Yorkshire Centre for Health Informatics,
> University of Leeds,
> Leeds,
> United Kingdom
> www.ychi.leeds.ac.uk
>
> Ghana's Representative On The Steering Committee
> African Academic Public Health Informatics Alliance
> Centre for Public Health Informatics
> University of Washington
> Seattle, WA
>
> Fellow,
> Health Informatics Building Blocks Project (HIBBs),
> AMIA/Global Health Informatics Partnership
> ________________________________________
> From: implementers@xxxxxxxxxxx [implementers@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Burke
> Mamlin [bmamlin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: 05 December 2010 15:59
> To: openmrs-implement-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [OPENMRS-IMPLEMENTERS] partner openmrs
>
> Mohamed,
>
> Can you be more specific?  The software and community are open to anyone.
> Are you looking for certification?  "OpenMRS Partner" is not explicitly
> defined, so it is hard to know exactly what you are looking for from your
> question.
>
> -Burke
>
> On Dec 5, 2010, at 9:45 AM, mohamed shedid
> <moh.shedid@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:moh.shedid@xxxxxxxxx>>  wrote:
>
> dear all
> what the procedure to become  openmrs partner???
>
> --
> Thanks
> Mohamed shedid
>
> ________________________________
> Click here to
> unsubscribe<mailto:LISTSERV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?body=SIGNOFF%20openmrs-implem
> ent-l>  from OpenMRS Implementers' mailing list
> ________________________________
> Click here to
> unsubscribe<mailto:LISTSERV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?body=SIGNOFF%20openmrs-implem
> ent-l>  from OpenMRS Implementers' mailing list
>
> _________________________________________
>
> To unsubscribe from OpenMRS Implementers' mailing list, send an e-mail to
> LISTSERV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with "SIGNOFF openmrs-implement-l" in the  body
> (not the subject) of your e-mail.
>
> [mailto:LISTSERV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?body=SIGNOFF%20openmrs-implement-l]
>
> _________________________________________
>
> To unsubscribe from OpenMRS Implementers' mailing list, send an e-mail to
> LISTSERV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with "SIGNOFF openmrs-implement-l" in the  body
> (not the subject) of your e-mail.
>
> [mailto:LISTSERV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?body=SIGNOFF%20openmrs-implement-l]
>
> _________________________________________
>
> To unsubscribe from OpenMRS Implementers' mailing list, send an e-mail to LISTSERV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with "SIGNOFF openmrs-implement-l" in the  body (not the subject) of your e-mail.
>
> [mailto:LISTSERV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?body=SIGNOFF%20openmrs-implement-l]

_________________________________________

To unsubscribe from OpenMRS Implementers' mailing list, send an e-mail
to LISTSERV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with "SIGNOFF openmrs-implement-l" in
the  body (not the subject) of your e-mail.

[mailto:LISTSERV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?body=SIGNOFF%20openmrs-implement-l]



-- 
Cheers,
Knut Staring