Summary
Objectives: To assess and analyze the attitude of health IT executives towards the utilization
of specialized medical Open Source software (OSS) in Germany's and other European
countries' health care delivery.
Methods: After an initial literature review a field study was carried out based on semi-structured
expert interviews. Eight German and 11 other European health IT executives were surveyed.
The results were qualitatively analyzed using the grounded theory approach. Identified
concepts were reviewed using SWOT analysis.
Results: In total, 13 strengths, 11 weaknesses, 3 opportunities, and 8 threats of the utilization
of OSS in a clinical setting could be identified. Additionally, closely related aspects
like general software procurement criteria, the overall attitude of health IT executives,
users, and management towards OSS and its current and future use could as well be
assessed.
Conclusions: Medical OSS is rarely used in health care delivery. In order to capitalize the unique
advantages of OSS in a clinical setting, complex requirements need to be addressed.
Shortcomings of OSS describe an attractive breeding ground for new commercial offerings
and services that need yet to be seen.
Keywords
Open source - software - qualitative survey - health care delivery - health information
technology - free software
