Emr

[kyu1q84]

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I was curious which hospital uses which system and where.

I heard of CHCS, AHLTA, and Essentris.

Correct me if I am wrong,
- Essentris is the inpatient system
- AHLTA is the outpatient system
- CHCS is the ordering system
I obviously have not rotated at any of the military hospitals, so clueless.

>>> I am mainly curious about the Naval hospitals but would like to know how the other hospitals are also handling the patient information.

>>> On a side note, I also would like to know if I can connect to Essentris on my Ipad while I do rounds.

 

[colbgw02]

Security issues will prevent almost all non-governmental hardware from connecting to a government network. You can access some government websites from your home computer if you buy a CAC reader, but I don't think the EMRs are accessible in such a manner.

Many physicians are issued government computers. In my experience, most of these are laptops, but some of them are tablets. Not iPad type tablets, but rather computers that are more mobile than a traditional laptop and have a touch screen. If you have one of these, and your MTF has wireless, then you could use it on rounds.

CHCS is the foundation for AHLTA (another name for AHLTA used to be CHCS II). CHCS was supposed to be taken off-line once AHLTA was working, but - after billions and billions of dollars - AHLTA is too crappy to be trusted. So, CHCS still serves as the official record for many of the ancillary services: lab, pharm, radiology, nutrition. Honestly, I like CHCS. It's not intuitive, but it's simple (once learned) and reliable.

In theory, a patch exists between CHCS and Essentris such that inpatient orders can only be placed in Essentris. Practically, I'll tell you that the patch works inconsistently and often poorly. It's one of those wonderful military "systems errors" just waiting to happen.

 

[Kingfisher]

I was curious which hospital uses which system and where.

I heard of CHCS, AHLTA, and Essentris.

Correct me if I am wrong,
- Essentris is the inpatient system
- AHLTA is the outpatient system
- CHCS is the ordering system
I obviously have not rotated at any of the military hospitals, so clueless.

>>> I am mainly curious about the Naval hospitals but would like to know how the other hospitals are also handling the patient information.

>>> On a side note, I also would like to know if I can connect to Essentris on my Ipad while I do rounds.

The Military takes on EMR like the Navy does uniforms. Rather than replace one with another, it just keeps adding to the existing systems. Before you know it we will not only have 50 different uniforms but almost as many different EMR systems to know.

This is a dead horse, but the VAs EMR system is their inpatient/outpt program and although not modern, it works most of the time. It has been a while since I worked with it so I don't know if it has changed much.

You can access AHLTA, CHCS, and ESSENTRIS via Internet but you have to have a CAC reader and Citrix installed on your computer. This is how I accessed them while deployed but thay are sooooooo much more painful used this way. It can take hours to sign on and it kicks you off about every 10 minutes. Too frustrating for words. 😡

 

[ProwlerturnGas]

Security issues will prevent almost all non-governmental hardware from connecting to a government network. You can access some government websites from your home computer if you buy a CAC reader, but I don't think the EMRs are accessible in such a manner.

Many physicians are issued government computers. In my experience, most of these are laptops, but some of them are tablets. Not iPad type tablets, but rather computers that are more mobile than a traditional laptop and have a touch screen. If you have one of these, and your MTF has wireless, then you could use it on rounds.

CHCS is the foundation for AHLTA (another name for AHLTA used to be CHCS II). CHCS was supposed to be taken off-line once AHLTA was working, but - after billions and billions of dollars - AHLTA is too crappy to be trusted. So, CHCS still serves as the official record for many of the ancillary services: lab, pharm, radiology, nutrition. Honestly, I like CHCS. It's not intuitive, but it's simple (once learned) and reliable.

In theory, a patch exists between CHCS and Essentris such that inpatient orders can only be placed in Essentris. Practically, I'll tell you that the patch works inconsistently and often poorly. It's one of those wonderful military "systems errors" just waiting to happen.

Really? The Navy was talking about taking CHCS off line when I came on active duty in 1999. Still using CHCS? Agree, it was easy.....but so many better systems. Amazing!

 

[UltimateDO]

We are currently looking at the replacement system for AHLTA/Essentris/CHCS. Tentatively will be a consolidated inpt/outpt system. One of the options being looked at right now is something like EPIC that will be militarized for the unique requirements we present. One of the hangups is that the VA is looking for a replacement for VISTA but want to do their own procurement process for their own system instead of what makes sense and having an integrated DOD/VA system. Makes me lose faith hearing the political arguements that derail otherwise good clinician driven decisions.

 

[Kingfisher]

We are currently looking at the replacement system for AHLTA/Essentris/CHCS. Tentatively will be a consolidated inpt/outpt system. One of the options being looked at right now is something like EPIC that will be militarized for the unique requirements we present. One of the hangups is that the VA is looking for a replacement for VISTA but want to do their own procurement process for their own system instead of what makes sense and having an integrated DOD/VA system. Makes me lose faith hearing the political arguements that derail otherwise good clinician driven decisions.

Good luck finding the $$ to get the new system.

I don't think it would replace anything. There are too many different people that would refuse to change or learn a new system and would continue to use their same system and we would just be forced to add another list of headaches required to do business.

 

[BOHICA-FIGMO]

You can access AHLTA, CHCS, and ESSENTRIS via Internet but you have to have a CAC reader and Citrix installed on your computer. This is how I accessed them while deployed but thay are sooooooo much more painful used this way. It can take hours to sign on and it kicks you off about every 10 minutes. Too frustrating for words. 😡

True when deployed, but very convenient when working at home.

 

[Gastrapathy]

Can you really not understand why the va has no interest in a system created by the tools who brought you ahlta?