Frequently Asked Questions

What is Laika?
Laika is an open source electronic health record (EHR) testing framework.
How will Laika be used to test the compliance of an EHR?
Laika will support part of the EHR interoperability testing that the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHITsm) will develop and publish for their 2008 certification inspection process.
What standards will Laika test?
Laika will initially support testing of the HL7/ASTM Continuity of Care Document (CCD) constrained by the HITSP C32 v2.1 specification.
How much does it cost to use Laika?
There is no cost to download, to use or to modify the Laika software and source code.
What are the open source licensing details associated with Laika?
Laika is licensed under an Apache 2.0 open source license.
Can I contribute software source code to Laika?
Yes. Code contributions will be accepted as bug fixes and new feature proposals.
Do I need to be an EHR vendor to use Laika?
No. Anyone can download and setup Laika. Although Laika has been designed to support testing of EHRs, you can still use the tool to see how Laika and the EHR standards that it tests are used.
What programming languages will Laika use?
Laika will use the Ruby on Rails web framework and the Java programming language.
On what basis will the commit rights be granted?
After the successful release of Laika scheduled for March 2008, both MITRE and CCHIT leadership will consider granting commit rights to other individuals and organizations based upon prior contributions and involvement to the Laika project.
When was the CCHIT/MITRE collaboration formed? On what basis?
The collaboration between CCHIT and MITRE developing Laika began in October of 2007. The collaboration was formed on the basis that both CCHIT's mission to "accelerate the adoption of health information technology" and MITRE's mission to advance "technology to address issues of critical national importance" could benefit from a collaboration developing an open source EHR testing framework.
Is the initiative part of a government contract?
No. Support for this initiative is entirely funded by CCHIT and MITRE.
Can you provide some examples of MITRE's previous work in the open source arena?
Other open source projects that MITRE has been recognized as a key leader and contributor include LimeSurvey, the Collaborative Virtual Workspace (CVW), the MITRE Dialog Kit (Midiki), and the Wikipedia Concept Extractor.
Nick Abadzis provided the Laika project with artwork from his graphic novel about Laika.
What is the significance of the name "Laika"?
Laika is named after the dog and first living animal to enter earth orbit, paving the way for human space flight. This effort will likewise demonstrate that the grand challenge of interoperable EHRs is attainable and will inspire others to follow.