DOD moves forward with department-wide e-health records project

The DOD Healthcare Management System Modernization (DHMSM) program office has released a request for information to industry, looking for feedback on the minimum infrastructure requirements for supporting such a system.

Responses should cover such factors as hosting, network, device, and site characteristics, according to the solicitation, which follows an initial request in January on modernizing DOD’s health system. That request, DOD said at the time, was an attempt to get industry involved early in the project, which intends to use commercial health records products to replace its legacy systems.

The Pentagon has been looking to build a new EHR system since DOD and the Veterans Affairs Department decided last year to abandon an effort to build a joint system called iEHR. Citing the benefits of a competitive process over a joint effort, DOD said it would use commercial software to replace its AHLTA health records system, while VA said it would separately modernize its VistA system. Both departments said the modernized systems will be interoperable...