The Division of Protection has deployed its new digital well being report system in any respect of its army hospitals and clinics world wide however nonetheless faces low consumer satisfaction charges and integration points with the brand new software program, in accordance with a latest report from the Authorities Accountability Workplace.
DOD awarded a contract in 2015 to Cerner — which was acquired by Oracle in 2022 — Leidos and a number of other different corporations to modernize its well being system. The Division of Veterans Affairs equally contracted with Cerner in 2018 to modernize its outdated EHR system and make the brand new software program interoperable with DOD’s EHR.
The watchdog examine, launched on April 18, reviewed annual surveys of clinicians’ satisfaction with DOD’s EHR system — often known as MHS Genesis — and located that satisfaction charges “elevated minimally between 2022 and 2023 however lagged behind satisfaction charges for customers of DOD’s legacy techniques and customers of the identical business EHR answer as DOD.”
GAO’s report discovered that customers of the brand new system continued to specific considerations with the software program’s response time, their capacity to work effectively and their capacity “to ship prime quality care” for servicemembers and beneficiaries. In comparison with the 2022 survey responses, nonetheless, the watchdog did notice enhancements when it got here to clinicians’ capacity to ship extra patient-focused care.
“Though consumer satisfaction ranges are beneath these for its different related techniques, DOD has not but established satisfaction objectives,” GAO stated. “With out objectives for enhancing consumer satisfaction, the division might be restricted in its capacity to measure progress, plan for enhancements and make sure the system meets customers’ wants.”
DOD’s dental module, often known as Dentrix, was additionally cited as a serious concern within the report, with GAO noting that the division has skilled “persistent issues” with the software program however “doesn’t but have a plan or schedule for figuring out alternate options.”
“Till the workplace resolves the Dentrix difficulty, the brand new federal EHR is not going to present important performance to dentists who deal with DOD beneficiaries,” GAO stated.
The report additionally examined DOD and VA’s joint deployment of the Oracle Cerner EHR system on the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Well being Care Middle in North Chicago, Illinois in March, which marked DOD’s closing rollout of its new software program. VA paused rollouts of its EHR system final yr to handle a myriad of points with the brand new software program however maintained its deployment at Lovell as half of a bigger reset for its modernization challenge.
Whereas GAO discovered that each companies “accomplished important duties” to efficiently deploy the brand new system at Lovell — together with all 35 duties and milestones included of their implementation plan — it discovered that “integration alternatives stay.”
The report stated areas requiring additional integration embody affected person care places, the dental techniques and the group of Lovell’s pharmacies. DOD and VA cited “authorized and coverage limitations” and “a scarcity of time and sources” as challenges to additional integration.
“Till it addresses these limitations, DOD and VA will doubtless not meet the mixing aim established for the Federal Well being Care Middle,” the report stated.
GAO made 4 suggestions, together with for DOD and VA to every resolve integration points at Lovell and for DOD to “set up consumer satisfaction targets and implement a plan to offer a dental module various.” Each companies agreed with the watchdog’s suggestions.