Dive Brief:
- The US military's new electronic health record (EHR) contract with Cerner, Leidos and Accenture is expeted to advance interoperability nationally.
- The military plans to use the new system to achieve interoperability with thousands of civilian healthcare organizations.
- A second goal is to enhance interoperability between the Military Health System and the Veterans Health Administration's VistA EHR.
Dive Insight:
Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said at a briefing that between 60% and 70% of the care provided to the 9.6 million active duty, retiree and family Military Health System beneficiaries is delivered by private-sector providers.
“Part of our requirement is to position ourselves to be interoperable with the private sector,” Woodson said. “But the fact of the matter is, the private sector has to make itself interoperable as well. What we're doing today will help advance that public preparedness.”
The contract with the Cerner consortium will require the new system to achieve interoperability for possibly hundreds of EHR systems worldwide, including those of company rivals.