State Department may switch to Pentagon’s health IT system
Agreement will allow military personnel treated at embassies to have continuous medical records, and will facilitate better, cheaper care.
The State Department has agreed to explore the possibility of adopting the Pentagon's electronic health record system to support personnel in embassies around the world.
The State and Defense departments will partner on a pilot project to determine whether the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application, or AHLTA, is suitable for transmitting health care information between overseas State posts and medical facilities in the United States.
State officials will begin entering information for Pentagon personnel who receive medical care at U.S. embassies into the AHLTA system. This will ensure that those receiving care have a continuous, lifelong medical record available, Defense officials said in an announcement. At the same time, medical personnel from the State Department will have access to information that will help them improve the quality of care and reduce costs.
According to the Pentagon, State officials selected AHLTA, which supports 9.1 million personnel worldwide, over other electronic medical record systems because it is reliable in remote environments and complies with security standards.
William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs, said the prospect of extending the reach of the department's worldwide health IT network marks an important step in building a universal health care information delivery system.
"AHLTA has transformed the way we practice medicine in DoD," Winkenwerder said. "We look forward to sharing our implementation experience and the benefits [the system] provides with another federal department and a new global health care partner."
Laurence Brown, State's medical director, said he views the agreement "as a win-win" in that the department will be able to tap into the development expertise and prior deployment experience Defense has gained.
"The taxpayer wins whenever governmental bodies work together rather than reinventing expensive wheels," Brown said.
In January, the Pentagon and the Veterans Affairs Department agreed to establish an updated electronic health records system after nearly a decade of attempting to exchange information stored in separate systems. Defense and VA manage two of the largest health care systems in the world. It is not yet clear how the agreement with State would affect the agreement with the VA.
Electronic medical records are seen as key to the future of managing health care information. In 2004, President Bush ordered the Health and Human Services Department to promote the adoption of health IT. By 2014, most Americans are supposed to have an electronic health record available anywhere.
Lawmakers have criticized the fiscal 2008 budget request for only allotting $118 million for an HHS office of the national health IT coordinator. But the administration has argued that enough money is being spent on health IT through other means, and that the government's role is to ensure standards for secure, confidential and compatible e-health systems.
Legislation introduced in the last session of Congress would have required insurance carriers with the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program to create electronic health records for each beneficiary.