DOD Seeks Ideas for EHRs

On January 30, 2014, the Defense Department released a draft Request for Proposals (RFP) to modernize the military health system. The draft is designed to involve private industry early in the government’s requirements for the Healthcare Management Systems Modernization project.

The program seeks to modernize the DOD EHR system while working to make it interoperable with the Department of Veterans Affairs EHR system and private provider EHRs.

The draft RFP provides private industry with an early introduction to the ongoing requirements for modernizing which will give private industry experts a chance to offer comments or to pose questions.

DOD is going to replace the various legacy systems with one that supports interoperability with the VA’s follow-on-system. Medical records would seamlessly move between the organizations and with private medical practitioners.

Many of the legacy systems were not designed to work together and they weren’t designed with the same standards and technology. The new system will leverage off-the-shelf technologies and industry standards as supported by the Office of the National Coordinator.

The new system will most likely be deployed first to the Pacific Northwest with the system deployment scheduled to begin by the end of 2016.

DOD posted their most updated information on the RFP on www.fbo.gov.  The Solicitation title is “Health Care Management Systems Modernization” (Solicitation no N0039-14-R-0018).