Skip to main content

Military Health System

Test of Sitewide Banner

This is a test of the sitewide banner capability. In the case of an emergency, site visitors would be able to visit the news page for addition information.

DHA IT helps beneficiaries, providers and workforce through pandemic

Image of Several military personnel, wearing masks, filling out paperwork. One woman is giving the thumbs up sign. Defense Health Agency (DHA) COVID-19-related updates to Military Health System health care information technology systems ensure MHS providers like Navy Seaman Norelle Dry, assigned to Naval Medical Center San Diego, California, can continue to deliver top-tier care to Service members and beneficiaries during the pandemic. DHA IT system updates also helped patients manage their health care virtually and provided Department of Defense leaders timely information on critical medical supplies and equipment. (U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Elisha Smith.)

Defense Health Agency information technology (DHA IT) teams demonstrated their versatility and responsiveness ensuring Military Health System patients continued to receive high quality health care during the COVID-19 pandemic and throughout 2020. The IT teams also provided innovative tools to MHS health care providers and DHA employees to enable to function during the pandemic.

For patients, they established virtual COVID-19 screenings and appointments, allowing patients to manage their health care online rather than in person at military medical treatment facilities (MTFs) where they could place themselves and others at risk of infection. For providers, they established COVID-19 protocols within electronic health record (EHR) systems and other health care applications enabling them to identify and document infections.

“As soon as the pandemic hit, our teams quickly kicked into high gear to deliver some critical updates to our systems and applications,” said Army Col. Francisco Dominicci, chief, DHA Solution Delivery Division, which sustains more than 60 different MHS health care applications. 

“We made updates to the TRICARE Online Patient Portal (TOL PP) to allow patients to make virtual visits with their providers via the portal,” he explained. “Starting in March, TOL PP facilitated more than 160,000 virtual visit appointments.”

Among other COVID-19 relief efforts, Dominicci said the IT teams worked with DHA Medical Logistics (MEDLOG) to update MEDLOG IT applications to track MHS personal protective equipment (PPE) and other critical medical equipment in real time. They also mapped strategies for tracking vaccine distribution across the Department of Defense. 

“In February, our teams created a Novel Coronavirus query tab in the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE) application,” he added. “The following month, they launched a COVID-19 dashboard in ESSENCE that allows users to monitor the number of COVID-19 lab results in real time.”

The IT teams also developed and released a progressive web-based application for Antimicrobial Stewardship with COVID-19 content in April to help providers with needed COVID-19 triage protocols, Dominicci said. 

In March, the IT teams expanded Enterprise Blood Management System-Transfusion (EBMS-T) blood availability reports to the Armed Services Blood Program to include greater inventory level details on all blood components maintained at MTFs. The teams also made configuration changes to EMBS-Donor, enabling donor sites to create labels to track COVID-19 convalescent plasma, which contains antibodies from COVID-19 survivors.   

Dominicci explained how the IT teams deployed a COVID-19 Sentinel Surveillance testing application using TOL PP in the fall. More than 250 users were provisioned across 35 military sites to use the application to gather information at the population level. Surveillance testing is used to monitor the community-level of a disease or to characterize its incidence and prevalence.

The DHA workforce was also able to transition to a telework environment after the IT teams ensured the networks could handle the heavy traffic. They also enabled multiple online collaboration tools, such as video conferencing, to keep the workforce connected.

Along with fighting COVID-19, the IT teams logged other impressive achievements last year. They completed major upgrades to in-patient EHR systems at 46 MTFs around the world in November, Dominicci added. 

In August, the DHA IT team launched the Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support (DMLSS) system at the joint DOD-Department of Veterans Affairs James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago. The DMLSS launch came after several years of planning, coordination and preparation between the DHA, DOD and VA. 

“The launch represented a major step in replacing the VA’s supply chain IT infrastructure with DMLSS,” Dominicci said. “The end goal is to establish a single DOD-VA health care logistics system for acquiring medical and surgical supplies.”

IT teams also completed conversions of legacy funding systems to the General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS) at 26 Navy MTFs in September, he said. The GFEBS conversions enable DHA financial and funding control of Navy, Army and DHA sites that use DMLSS. 

In December, the teams completed an initiative to migrate 140 public-facing MTF websites to TRICARE.mil. Dominicci said the IT teams worked closely with the MHS Communications office, the Defense Media Activity and MTF public affairs office on the initiative, which should ultimately reduce site sustainment and hosting costs. Returning website users experienced no disruptions, as they were automatically redirected to the new sites. 

“These are just a few of the milestones DHA IT teams achieved in 2020,” emphasized Dominicci . “The IT teams met the pandemic head on and delivered highly effective, innovative solutions across the DHA and MHS.”

You also may be interested in...

Virtual Medical Center Awarded for Ground-Breaking Technologies

Article Around MHS
6/6/2023
Zekelia Rembert and Anna Moore, virtual health nurse care coordinators, coordinate virtual health projects and outline participating military hospitals and clinics at the Virtual Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, Texas, on May 16, 2019. Virtual health nurse care coordinators train nurses at varying military hospitals and clinics while providing each nurse with 3.5 hours of continued education. Moore created the program. (Photo by Jason W. Edwards, U.S. Army)

The Virtual Medical Center at Brooke Army Medical Center will be recognized for four groundbreaking programs at the 2023 FORUM Information Technology Innovation Awards on June 7 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Space Force Details Holistic Health Approach, Continuous Fitness Assessment Study

Article Around MHS
6/5/2023
The U.S. Space Force becomes the first service component to use wearables to keep track of their Guardians fitness and other measures of readiness, with the introduction of the holistic health approach. (Graphic by U.S. Space Force)

The U.S. Space Force is implementing a holistic health approach for uniformed Guardians, including a voluntary two-year continuous fitness assessment study to assess and validate a new fitness concept using wearable devices for the service.

Building DHA Network Took ‘Massive Amount of World-Class Engineering’

Article
5/31/2023
Building DHA Network Took ‘Massive Amount of World-Class Engineering’

How do you take almost 400 military hospitals and clinics, over 398,000 users, half a million medical devices, and 9.5 million beneficiaries, from four different networks, and combine them into one sustainable system?

Effective Health IT Reduces Burnout, Improves Patient Care

Article
5/25/2023
Effective Health IT Reduces Burnout, Improves Patient Care

Information technology and its intersection with military health care was at the forefront of a key discussion at the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference, held in Chicago, Illinois, from April 17 to 21.

DHA Senior Leader: ‘Virtual First’ is the Future of Military Health System

Article
5/25/2023
DHA Senior Leader: ‘Virtual First’ is the Future of Military Health System

The Military Health System needs to invest in culture change to truly put the patient first.

How COVID-19 Public Health Emergency’s End Affects TRICARE

Article Around MHS
5/16/2023
Immunization Clinic photo

The Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 expired at the end of May 11. You might be wondering what this means about the state of COVID-19 or if there are changes to your TRICARE coverage.

Imaging Specialists Look Beyond the Skin

Article Around MHS
5/10/2023
U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Leila Liza Smith, a diagnostic imaging specialist with the 6th Medical Group, practices abdominal ultrasound procedures at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, on ct. 25, 2022. Smith evaluates the images produced by the ultrasound for abnormalities, such as lumps or nodules on the thyroid gland. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Lauren Cobin)

Diagnostic imaging specialists are medical professionals that use imaging equipment and soundwaves to form images of many parts of the body, known as ultrasounds. They are trained to acquire and analyze these sonographic images so that doctors can diagnose and treat many medical conditions.

Defense Occupational and Environmental Health Readiness System – Hearing Conservation (DOEHRS-HC)

Fact Sheet
5/8/2023

The Defense Occupational and Environmental Health Readiness System – Hearing Conservation (DOEHRS-HC) is an information system designed to support personal auditory readiness and help prevent hearing loss through early detection.

Department of Defense Investing in Wearable Technology That Could Rapidly Predict Disease

Article Around MHS
5/8/2023
U.S. Air Force Airman Katiha Falcon wears a watch at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, on Dec. 3, 2020. The wearable technology is part of a study with the Defense Innovation Unit that will allow detection of illnesses such as COVID-19 within 48 hours. (Photo by Cynthia Griggs, U.S. Air Force)

The Defense Innovation Unit, in partnership with the private sector, has developed a wearable device that was highly successful during the COVID-19 pandemic in identifying infections.

Lab Professionals Play Key Role in Public Health and Patient Care

Article
5/2/2023
Lab Professionals Play Key Role in Public Health and Patient Care

Lab professionals provide value to the MHS and DHA communities.

Crosland Discusses Dawn of Digital Health at HIMSS 2023

Article
4/28/2023
Crosland Discusses Dawn of Digital Health at HIMSS 2023

“My priorities as a combat support agency are about health of the force, and the redesign of our health care system is about health of our patient,” said U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Crosland. “And as an agency, it's about health of our people.”

Blanchfield Army Community Hospital ICU joins DHA’s Joint Tele-Critical Care Network

Article Around MHS
4/18/2023
Blanchfield Army Community Hospital Intensive Care Unit Chief Nurse U.S. Army Maj. Brenda Mitchell preforms a communication check with a nurse at the Defense Health Agency Virtual Medical Operations Center at Naval Medical Center San Diego, California, using the Joint Tele-Critical Care Network, on March 27. (Photo by Justin Moeller, Blanchefield Army Community Hospital

Blanchfield Army Community Hospital is the latest military hospital or clinic in the Military Health System to join the Defense Health Agency’s Joint Tele-Critical Care Network. The JTCCN virtually integrates 24/7 access to highly skilled critical care physicians, or intensivists, from DHA medical centers, or hubs like Naval Medical Center San Diego and Brooke Army Medical Center, with satellite intensive care units at nearly 20 military hospitals or clinics worldwide.

Like a Cable Boss: Connecting Medical Technology

Article Around MHS
4/12/2023
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Andrea President, a medical information service systems technician, 379th EMDSS, demonstrates using a cable testing device at the 379th EMDG radiology lab at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. (Photo by U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Bayard Lewis)

Inspecting and connecting tiny wires may seem like a small task, but it’s one that has a big effect on medical care that military patients receive in deployed locations like Qatar.

5 Reasons to Download MyCare Overseas App

Article
4/6/2023
5 Reasons to Download MyCare Overseas App

If you live overseas, the MyCare Overseas app makes it easy to manage your health care at home and on the go.

COVID-19 Registry Provides Pandemic Response Insights, Optimizes Patient Care

Article
3/28/2023
COVID-19 Registry Provides Pandemic Response Insights, Optimizes Patient Care

Prior to the pandemic, the DOD began deploying MHS GENESIS, the new federal electronic health record, to improve health care outcomes for our service members, veterans, and their families. Critical enterprise needs quickly came to light to combat the impacts of the COVID-19 disease.

Page 1 of 33 , showing items 1 - 15
First < 1 2 3 4 5  ... > Last 
Refine your search
Last Updated: December 28, 2022
Follow us on Instagram Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on YouTube Sign up on GovDelivery