MHS GENESIS https://www.health.mil/mhsgensis the single integrated medical and dental EHR scheduled to be delivered at all military hospitals and clinics by 2014, has completed the initial testing phases.
The Defense Health Agency (DHA) https://www.health.mil/dha has established the Office of the Chief Health Informatics Officer (OCHIO) to collaborate with community healthcare clinicians, health information technology experts and testers to help users of the system transition technologies and processes.
MHS GENESIS was launched at four initial operational capability sites in 2017. These sites included Fairchild Air Force Base, Naval Health Clinic Oak Harbor, Naval Hospital Bremerton, and the Madigan Army Medical Center. Now MHS is addressing the challenges and issues as it prepares for the first wave of deployment next fall.
According to Air Force Major General Lee E. Payne, DHA’s Assistant Director for Combat Support and also the MHS EHR Functional Champion, reports, “MHS GENESIS is more than a system for documenting healthcare, it also serves as a care coordination tool and provides standardized workflows that always available in the current system.”
He points out, “Not only do we have variability between the services but also between hospitals, and clinics, but we are also communicating workflows and bridging the knowledge gaps from old to new processes early in the transition.”
MHS is also focused on improving the training approach and content so it ties more closely to workflows. This will include retraining users at the initial sites when training methods change, Peer expert training, where physicians and nurses get trained by experts in their specialty has been effective.