DoD health officials said the EHR implementation will enhance interoperability and enable sharing of patient data between all military branches and affiliated commercial care providers.
The new system aims to enhance efficiency, improve patient experience and safety, enable the implementation of standardized workflows and improve healthcare delivery.
It will also provide a single patient health record for service members, veterans and their families.
“It will be a smoother process,” Chelsea Barto, MAHC training coordinator, said in a statement. “There will be a different type of standardization around the documentation, so if someone (moves) to a new location, providers will be able to pull their documentation from Fort Leavenworth and review it the same way they would document it there. “
Using the MHS GENESIS patient portal, MAHC patients can contact providers, schedule appointments, view lab results and health history, and place prescription refill orders.
MHS GENESIS will also provide patients with additional benefits for filling prescriptions at the MAHC Pharmacy.
“We've expanded our formulary, which is the list of drugs that we're able to fill prescriptions for, and that's an effort to standardize (drug lists) across the Department of Defense,” said Gregory Hare, MAHC Pharmacy chief. “It helps create consistency from one site to another.
“We used to say, 'No, I'm sorry, we can't fill it. it's not in our formula,” Hare added. “But when we're on the more standard formula, as long as it's covered there, we can fill it. We have already begun supplementing recipes from the expanded formula to prepare for this transition to Genesis.”
During the first few weeks, MAHC leaders said patients should expect reduced appointment availability as staff adjust to the new system.
“It's a learning experience for everyone — for our doctors, our nurses, the pharmacy staff, the lab, radiology. It will take a little more time to edit your scripts,” Hare said. “There will be some growing pains, but when you look at the other end, the formula is bigger, your information is all in one place, the transfer is with you from one Genesis site to another, and soon all of DoD will be for this issue.”
MHS GENESIS is set to launch at MAHC on April 24th.
MHS GENESIS will be deployed across the country and abroad in 23 total waves. Each wave of development will target a specific region of the country annually, with about three hospitals and several military treatment facilities for each wave.
The EHR platform is now live with approximately 20,000 active users at Pacific Wave.
With DoD personnel focused on the coronavirus, the DoD halted necessary EHR training and implementation for several months. However, the agency continued to work on optimizing the back-end system before rolling out the EHR system at four Coast Guard pilot medical facilities.
