Speaking before a crowd of nearly 400 people, Col. Claude Hines conceded that the Department of Defense’s mammoth electronic health records project—called AHLTA—has been encumbered with delays and faulty technology.
Hines spoke at the 2009 HIMSS Conference April 5 in Chicago, detailing the many components of the EHR, which connects military personnel worldwide.
The Department of Defense’s mammoth electronic health records project serves as a potential model for national connectivity. But it also provides a cautionary note about how expensive such projects can become.
Hines manages a $560 million annual acquisition budget and 300 staff for the Defense Health Information Management Systems, a division of the DoD.
Through AHLTA, caregivers worldwide can access a wide array of clinical data, including lab, radiology and dental records. Hines demonstrated how users can drill down to a precise geographic location anywhere in the world, using a 3D-mapping function similar to Google Earth. As the user drills down to a city, the system pops up a list of treating facilities and patients.
The DoD shares much of the data in its system with the VA hospital system, including encounter notes, demographic information, lab results, allergies and consults. The military is looking to expand its data sharing capabilities with the both government agencies and the private sector, Hines said. It’s launching a pilot program with the state of Virginia to share some data with the private sector.
--Gary Baldwin
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