The Military Health system is implementing a new modern EHR system named MHS GENESIS that will harness advanced technology and transform how military healthcare is delivered to more than 9.5 million beneficiaries.
Air Force Major General (Dr.) Lee Payne Director for Combat Support for the Defense Health Agency https://www.health.mil/dha speaking at the 2019 Society of Federal Health Professionals annual meeting reports, “Eight sites on the West Coast are using MHS GENESIS and starting June 2020, deployments under a phased approach are scheduled to be completed at all Department of Defense Military Treatment Facilities by 2023.”
In June 2020, in California, Nellis AFB and NAS Fallon in Nevada, Fort Irwin, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Beale AFB Edwards AFB, Vandenberg AFB, Los Angeles AFB, Port Hueneme, and Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center will all launch MHS GENESIS.
After that, every few months geographical groupings of Military Treatment Facilities will transition to MHS GENESIS over the next three years. Phasing in this way, enables the Military Health System to make sure each medical facility is ready to switch from legacy systems to the new EHR system while ensuring that patient safety is maintained.
The system relies on secure cloud computing technology to create global availability but that may create vulnerabilities including cybersecurity threats. According to Maj Gen Payne, “The implementation process has included careful and comprehensive testing of medical devices, cloud computing resources, and other computer security protocols to ensure that MHS GENESIS is a secure system.”