Mr. Bowen has already made significant strides in stabilizing the beleaguered health system, assisting with the merger of the armed services’ medical organizations into the Defense Health Agency just after he took office in 2012. A year later, he had established a health IT shared service organization to support the new agency, according to the report.
Although there are many other IT issues to address, most changes contribute in small ways to the overall goal of implementing an EHR, he said. The DHA has just completed a conversion to a common email system, allowing all physicians and staff to email one another securely. Eliminating duplications is next on the list of priorities. Consolidating systems and improving capacity will contribute to standardization and fit within the overarching Defense Health Management System Modernization effort, according to the report.
“We think that’s going to have a lot of positive impacts on us from a contracting standpoint,” Mr. Bowen told the Federal Times. “Our role is basically working with the contracts people to help bring this contract into a reality. And right now, it’s more along with sort of the strategy, from an IT standpoint, what it is we’re looking for in terms of requirements.”
