Military Health System makes services-wide EHR award

The Military Health System has awarded a contract to CliniComp International Inc. to install its Essentris clinical documentation system at 36 military treatment facilities.

CliniComp, a privately-owned, San Diego-based company, declined to disclose the value of the contract.

The company has previously installed its system in 25 military facilities, the first in 1987 at the San Diego Naval Hospital. Essentris replaced paper-based documentation systems at the facilities, according to Alan Portela, CliniComp's chief operating officer.

CliniComp’s Essentris system focuses on clinical documentation and comprises a number of modules, including clinical applications for emergency, intensive care, labor and delivery, and pre-and post anesthesia.

“This is the first time an integrated delivery network this large has standardized throughout all clinical areas on one clinical system,” Portela said.

Within each of these users have access to a computerized order entry system and a rules-based engine that provides clinicians with prompts, advisories, and trending data based on the condition of the patient.

At the presentation level, the system displays flow sheets which can display clinical notes, vital signs, and a variety of charts and tables. The system also interfaces with medical devices to automatically capture data into its global data repository.

MHS has acquired all of the available modules, Portela said.

The system runs on Linux servers while the client runs on Microsoft Windows. "Users that have the right resolution can access the system on any device, such as a PC or a laptop," Portela said.

The system can also interface with hospitals' existing systems to capture laboratory and other computable data.

CliniComp is now also working to interface Essentris with AHLTA, MHS's longitudinal outpatient medical record. "We have pilot deployments in emergency departments to bring outpatient data into the system," Portela said.