The United States Department of Defense (DoD) has transformed health care delivery in its use of information technology to automate patient data documentation, leading to improvements in patient safety. The Department uses an enterprise-wide medical and dental clinical information system that generates, maintains, and provides 24-hour secure online access to longitudinal health records.
CHCS II, the military's next generation of its Electronic Health Record (EHR), enhances patient safety for more than 9 million beneficiaries, with “one patient, one record.” Because military families are highly mobile, the EHR makes the patient's medical history available at the point of care at any military medical facility in the world, thus greatly improving overall health care delivery and supporting patient safety initiatives for DoD beneficiaries. Currently, the military EHR supports 55,000 outpatient encounters each week. It provides a legible and longitudinal clinical record that includes drug interaction alerts, patient allergy notifications, and wellness reminders to enhance health care delivery.