"Be the Change" -- this was the overarching theme for the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference held earlier this month.
During the conference, several Defense Department leaders showcased numerous examples of how the federal government serves as a catalyst for change across the healthcare landscape.
Bill Tinston, director of the Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization (FEHRM) program office, equated the evolution of the new single, common record to the evolution of the telephone. "In the past, you called a place - John's house - and asked whether he was there. Now, you call the person on his mobile phone and can reach him wherever he is. The mobile phone removed the limitation of place from the equation. We're doing the same thing with the new single, common record."
The new electronic health record, shared by the Defense Department, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Department of Homeland Security's United States Coast Guard, delivers data to healthcare teams wherever a patient receives treatment. In the past, a patient received care at a specific facility and all records associated with that care resided within that facility. The new shared record makes a patient's records available digitally anywhere a healthcare team or patient needs them.
In 2015, the Program Executive Office, Defense Healthcare Management Systems (PEO DHMS) launched the mission to deliver a new electronic health record to the Military Health System.