BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- On April 24, 2021, the 460th Medical Group is scheduled to go-live with the Department of Defense’s new electronic health record (EHR) for the Military Health System, called MHS Genesis, at Buckley Air Force Base.
Designed to integrate inpatient and outpatient solutions, MHS Genesis is the single, continuous record of care that will support the delivery and strategy of healthcare for 9.5 million TRICARE beneficiaries worldwide.
“MHS Genesis is modernizing our healthcare record keeping system to a civilian product, so that the product we use is similar to what hospitals will use as well,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Allison Carr, the 460th Healthcare Operations Squadron readiness and medical information system flight commander.
Along with connecting medical and dental information across the continuum of care, MHS Genesis will provide enhanced, secure technology to manage health information, and increase efficiency for beneficiaries and health care professionals.
“Having more of that patient-centered focus is great,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Linda Iannapollo, the 460th Medical Group group practice manager. “It’s proactive and empowering individuals with their own health care.”
MHS Genesis will help increase patient engagement capabilities as they can now communicate directly with their medical providers.
“Some of the largest benefits will be transparency and ease of use with the new systems,” said Carr. “Once you have your account set up, you can access your account with your home computer, at work, or wherever else you need to access your health records.”
Patients will be encouraged to sign up for the MHS Genesis Patient Portal that will replace TRICARE Online. The Patient Portal is a secure website which is slated to provide access to health information constantly.
“Not only will our staff have more tools available to them and a better interface, but the patient portal, which allows our patients to view their medical records, exchange secure messages with their care team, request prescription renewals, view notes from their clinical visits and certain lab or test results, will be completely upgraded,” said Carr.
The DoD is implementing MHS Genesis across all installations in waves and are expected to be fully implemented by 2023. While the 460th MDG transitions to MHS Genesis, they are expecting a 4-6 week decrease in access as they begin implementing the new EHR.
For more information, please visit www.health.mil/MHSGENESIS.