The program offices that provide electronic products and information technology support to the Defense Department's Military Health System are undergoing a reorganization and leadership changes.
The shakeup involves the consolidation of several offices managing related products. The new Defense Health Information Management System (DHIMS) program office will consolidate programs providing electronic health records and other clinical information. The new Defense Health Systems Program Office (DHSPO) brings MHS business systems and analytical tools under one umbrella.
“The reorganization involves aligning like product lines,” said MHS spokesperson Lt. Col. Denise Green. The two new offices will provide enterprise-level organization and oversight for the 30 products they manage, she added.
DHIMS came about through the merger of the Theater Medical Information Program -Joint (TMIP-J) and the Clinical Information Technology Program Office (CITPO).
Col. Claude Hines, most recently program manager for TMIP-J, is now the program manager for DHIMS.
DHSPO combines the Executive Information and Decision Support (EIDS) Program Office, the Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support (DMLSS) program, and the Resources Information Technology Program Office (RITPO).
Dr. George “Dan” Magee, most recently acting director of DMLSS, has been named head of DHSPO.
TMIP-J supports deployed personnel in theater with clinical care documentation, tools to track patients, supplies, and equipment, and health surveillance. CITPO provides MHS technologies that support the broader population of service members, retirees, and families, including electronic medical records, clinical decision support, as well as population health and medical surveillance tools.
RITPO develops and maintains automated systems that support the business management of MHS. EIDS provides decision-support tools and operates systems, including the Clinical Data Mart, that process data retrieved from AHLTA, the military’s electronic health record. DMLSS is the DOD system for managing all aspects of medical logistics for DOD hospitals.
From the battlefield to the home front: Managing medical data
Government Health IT presents Col. Claude Hines Jr., program manager for the Defense Health Information Management System, in this recent InSight eSeminar. Col. Hines discusses the health information technology and tactical challenges faced by the military medical community in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas of conflict. In doing so, he describes the current information technology solutions for transferring clinical data between battlefield care givers to health care personnel at military treatment facilities worldwide.
