During a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing on March 29, the U.S. Department of Defense presented an updated timeline for its Cerner implementation rollout.
Here are five things to know.
1. Stacy A. Cummings, a program executive officer for defense healthcare management systems, testified on behalf of DOD at a hearing on the defense health program budget for fiscal year 2018. She said rollout of the new EHR system, MHS Genesis, will follow a "wave model," ultimately replacing DOD's legacy healthcare systems, which encompass more than 9.4 million beneficiaries.
"This approach allows DOD to take full advantage of lessons learned and experiences gained from prior waves to maximize efficiencies in subsequent waves," Ms . Cummings said during her testimony.
2. The EHR system uses a commercial platform by Cerner as part of a $4.3 billion DOD contract awarded to Leidos, Cerner and Accenture in July 2015.
3. The first wave of facilities to receive MHS Genesis began on Feb. 7 in the Pacific Northwest, when the DOD implemented MHS Genesis at Fairchild Air Force Base outside Spokane, Wash.
4. The next three implementation sites will be Naval Hospital Oak Harbor, Naval Hospital Bremerton and Madigan Army Medical Center outside Lakewood, all located in Washington state. This MHS Genesis roll out will begin at the end of fiscal year 2017.
5. From there, deployment will proceed with 23 waves across three continental U.S. regions and two regions overseas through 2022. The typical wave will include three hospitals and 15 physical locations and will last for roughly one year.
Click here to view the full testimony.