New electronic health record systems are beginning to reach many military institutions, improving the way these facilities work and operate. According to William Tinston, program executive officer for Defense Healthcare Management Systems, a more industrialized approach is needed.
“It wasn’t a perfect roll out. We had great success, we were very happy with the rollout to these four sites. But it gave us the opportunity to see things… even though that is four times the number we’ve done previously, that we need to do better, that we can’t manage our way through as our deployments accelerate” Tinston said. “We’re going to reach a point where we have 400 sites in the deployment process at the same time, so we won’t have the time.
Success rates of previous implementations have been high due to strong leadership, and the programs are moving away from computer-based training to in person trainings. Maj. Gen. Lee Payne, assistant director of combat support at the Defense Health Agency, told Government Matters that confidence in using the new technology is key to its usefulness and success, and the next waves of implementation must maintain user confidence.
“We moved to a thing called a peer expert program… I’m an emergency physician. Emergency physicians coach other emergency physicians, administrative clerks, ICU nurses. And it builds a bigger depth within your organization. I believe that was a big key for our success.” Payne said.
