“The JEDI contract for cloud computing has generated the most noise lately. The contract, awarded to Microsoft and imprecisely labeled as ‘massive’ or ‘huge,’ will simply add to a growing list of cloud options available to Defense Department agencies. I’d characterize JEDI as non-trivial, but not critical to the success of the enterprise.”
“A far more transformative contract is slowly working its way throughout the DoD medical establishment. The Defense Healthcare Management Systems office has been iteratively rolling out MHS Genesis, its project for a new electronic health care record, or EHR. It started at a few locations in the Pacific Northwest. Four locations at Travis Air Force Base in Idaho got the system last month in an effort called Wave Travis.”
“For health care organizations, the EHR is integral to operations. It impacts the safety of patients and delivery of care, of course, but also efficiency of the supply chain, scheduling of staff, and the ability to do trend analysis. MHS Genesis is nearly analogous to replacing the veins and arteries of a patient.”
“In my interview with the program executive, Bill Tinston, and the services champion, Air Force Maj. Gen. Lee Payne, I got the sense the program balances between getting it right but not taking forever. The two say the records, an iteration of a widely used product from Cerner Corporation, will match the EHR the Veterans Affairs Department is also working to get established. Tinston says that eventually, the same record that mates with incoming service members will stay with them until they reach veteran status. That’s what people mean when they say person-or-client-centered IT services.” Listen to the podcast here.
Source: For DoD’s new electronic health records, success comes in small steps – By Tom Temin, October 31, 2019. Federal News Network.
