Naval Hospital Bremerton (NHB) welcomed U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Ronald J. Place, Director, National Capital Medical Directorate, and Mr. Patrick Flanders, Defense Health Agency Deputy Assistant Director for Information Operations and Chief Information Officer, on Nov. 15, 2018, to discuss informatics, and the multiservice market place, as well as NHB’s deployment of the new electronic health record MHS GENESIS.

The visit focused on IT infrastructure, market place optimization, as well as the configuration and management of MHS GENESIS that included discussions on project implementation, workflow optimization, and system interoperability.

NHB is one of the four sites in the Pacific Northwest, along with U.S. Air Force 92nd Medical Group at Fairchild Air Force Base, Naval Health Clinic Oak Harbor and Madigan Army Medical Center, to deploy MHS GENESIS in 2017.

The first anniversary of deploying MHS GENESIS was Sept. 23, 2018, and the past year has seen NHB staff continue to lead in refining their collective ability in operating the new electronic health record. Such effort has not gone unnoticed.

As DHA’s Chief Information Officer, Flanders presented Capt. Jeffrey Bitterman, NHB commanding officer, a Certificate of Appreciation, ‘in recognition of demonstrated commitment and unwavering support for the Defense Health Agency’s effort to modernize and unify the information technology infrastructure supporting the Military Health System.’

MHS GENESIS is a single integrated electronic health record for service members, veterans and their families that integrates inpatient and outpatient, medical, and dental information across the continuum of care, from point of injury – whether ship, shore, submarine, and squadron - to the military hospital or clinic.

“The recognition with the certificate of appreciation is a testament to the commitment of our staff who have continuously increased their working ability and knowledge as we refine and optimize MHS GENESIS, while providing safe, high quality patient-centered care. We know that there have been challenges, and we continue to improve, advance and develop our expertise using the system, which will ultimately benefit the rest of our Military Health System going forward. By having our distinguished visitors here, we are able to explain where we were and where we are now in the new electronic health record. The new EHR is integrated and far more capable than our legacy systems.  We are really only beginning to scratch the surface of what MHS GENESIS can do for our patients to enhance their safety and continuity of care, and we are excited about future interoperability with the VA. The future is bright,” Bitterman said.

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