The Armed Forces Communications, Electronics Association (Bethesda Chapter) held their Health IT 2022 Virtual Event Series during February 2022. One of the speakers on the MHS Panel was Chris Nichols, Program Manager, for EIDA at the Defense Health Agency.
He emphasized how the pandemic had a positive effect on breaking down walls to do research along with treating patients. It has been possible to integrate systems enabling collecting data across the spectrum.
He pointed out that DOD deals with registries that bring data together such as clinical registries good for point of care, complex registries addressing trauma and COVID response, plus vision, and hearing.
The registries linked to clinical data are able to provide a holistic view, enable multi-year plans, plus provide more in-depth business information to help plans work more efficiently with funding needs. The registries need to be standardized and require clinical data validation as the ability to look at the patient population has to be accurate and complete.
He talked about how important it is to move to the Cloud which he called the digital health hub. He also said that moving to the Cloud will enable partners to more effectively have conversations with other partners.
Today, as a result of COVID, the goal is to onboard different vendor partners quickly so the teams can work off of a playbook in a timely manner and work together to prioritize projects in order to drive the necessary changes.
As for dealing with cybersecurity, it is always difficult because there are always threats that must be managed in order to provide clinical care which is not always easy to do in the health space. Although cybersecurity is essential, it must be used at the same time as accurate clinical care is provided.
New innovations have to be matched with what is out in the pipeline. This requires sharing data with providers, working with the research communities and labs, and at the same time, developing ways to effectively partner with them.
He mentioned how the U.S. Digital Services (USDS) helps by providing planning for multiple years out on work in the pipeline. The USDS deploys small responsive groups of designers, engineers, product managers, and specialists to help out by bringing new approaches to support government modernization.
Go to https://bethesda.afceachapters.org for more information on the Virtual Event and further details on membership.