DoD Opens Bidding For Massive EHR And IT Modernization

In what is certainly among the most coveted health IT contracts in history, the U.S. Department of Defense is officially accepting proposals for its colossal technology modernization initiative.  The broad DoD Healthcare Management Systems Modernization undertaking, aka DHMSM — dubbed “Dim-Sum” by industry insiders — puts as much as $11 billion at stake, so the biggest vendors and consultants have been banding together for several months now to answer DoD’s request for proposal.

"We are not just buying an off-the-shelf system; we're really looking to modernize how the department delivers healthcare," said Christopher Miller, program executive officer, Defense Healthcare Management Systems, in a statement announcing the RFP. "Ultimately, program success will result in continued improvement in patient safety, quality of care and readiness of forces worldwide."

Indeed, the project's top priorities will consist of replacing outdated DoD legacy healthcare systems, including the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (DoD's current EHR system), the inpatient Composite Health Care System, in addition to several components of the Theater Medical Information Program-Joint. DoD officials expect to select the vendor come third quarter of FY 2015. Taken together, DoD explained, the plan is to eliminate barriers to exchanging the health data of DoD's 9.6 million beneficiaries between agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the private sector...