Patients and providers at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, were the first to adopt MHS GENESIS as the new electronic health record. Deployed by the Military Health System on Feb. 7, 2017, officials touted it as an open, flexible and easily adaptable medical and dental electronic health record that gives both providers and patients access to information, from the point of injury to care in military hospitals and clinics or in the private sector.

“We have made significant progress developing interfaces, user-approved workflows, and technical integration of the baseline operational system,” said Stacy Cummings, program executive officer, Program Executive Office, Defense Healthcare Management Systems. “Our team remains focused on providing a modern, secure, and connected system for our beneficiaries and healthcare providers from day one.”

MHS GENESIS rolled out at Fairchild AFB and will be implemented throughout the MHS by 2022. During a ceremony Feb. 15, 2017, at Fairchild AFB, Navy Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, director, Defense Health Agency, said starting in the Pacific Northwest and phasing it into the rest of the MHS over the course of several years allows time to tweak as necessary to meet any changing needs and identify and correct unanticipated problems early.

“This is just the first step in implementing what will be the largest integrated inpatient and outpatient electronic health record in the United States,” said Bono. “Our beneficiaries’ health care providers will have the latest advancements in technology in a timely manner with minimal disruption to care, giving their patients high quality, safe health care. Patients will also have greater access to their information, letting them be more engaged in their own health-related activities.”

Some of the improvements MHS GENESIS brings include:

•     Inpatient and outpatient care delivery integrated into a single system, providing a more complete record that will be readily available during care transitions

•     Automated alerts and reminders to ensure patient safety and security of their information

•     A dynamic workflow to allow data entry by multiple designees, at any point in time, while maintaining ONE record with current information

Cummings said MHS GENESIS addresses the need to share and exchange health information.

“The relationship between military and civilian health care providers, where medical professionals on both sides can access critical patient information, is vital to high quality care,” said Cummings. “Health data sharing is a critical part of the mission we deliver today.”