The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report this month assessing progress the U.S. Coast Guard has made since terminating its EHR contract with Epic in 2015.
In February 2016 the Coast Guard began the process to acquire a new EHR system, however, it has not made a final determination. GAO summarized the Coast Guard's progress on its EHR implementation efforts in the report, reviewing the Coast Guard's EHR project expenditures, analyzing project management documents and surveying the branch's regional managers and clinical staff.
Here are five things to know about the Coast Guard's delayed EHR implementation.
1. The Coast Guard awarded Epic a $14 million contract in September 2010, seeking to replace an outdated EHR system. However, the branch terminated its EHR contract with Epic in 2015 and reverted to using paper records. In October 2015, the Coast Guard said the EHR modernization project, dubbed Integrated Health Information System, would be canceled.
2. The Coast Guard cited "financial, technical, schedule and personnel risks" as contributors that led it to terminate the IHiS project in 2015. As of August 2017, the Coast Guard had spent $59.9 million on the project during the nearly seven-year period. The branch noted none of the equipment or software procured during that time could be reused for future EHR implementation efforts.
3. The Coast Guard continues to rely on a predominately paper-based system for health records. The system comprises various manual steps to process each record, which creates challenges for the branch's clinical staff. For example, some clinics are unable to adequately track medication information across the Coast Guard, which poses a problem for patients taking multiple medications with potentially dangerous interactions.
4. GAO recommended the Coast Guard "expeditiously and judiciously" pursue a new EHR system. During the implementation, the Coast Guard should establish project governance boards and document lessons learned. In its review of the Coast Guard's terminated EHR implementation, GAO noted the branch had not previously documented "lessons learned for the failed project" during its last attempt.
5. GAO concluded, "Successfully and quickly implementing an EHR system is vital to overcoming the challenges the Coast Guard currently faces in managing paper health records. The expeditious implementation of such a system can significantly improve the quality and efficiency of care to the thousands of Coast Guard active duty and reserve members that receive healthcare."
To access the GAO's report, click here.