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The Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash., has completed a successful test of personal health record systems that allowed patients to access information contained in the Defense Department's AHLTA electronic health record system. Now the pilot project will be extended to the Navy National Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and a civilian hospital system serving military patients in Virginia, Madigan officials told the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference here this week.

t's been around since 2007, but the success of the Military Health System blog has surpassed expectations. Dr. Michael Kilpatrick is the Director of Military Health System Strategic Communications. He tells us that the importance of keeping in contact with members of the military and their families really can't be understated. He also says the blog helped make a lot of important information much more accessible to them.

The course prepares Army IT professionals with the skills they'll need in the combat zone to help the nation's best doctors and nurses capture critical medical information without skipping a beat. Sustaining the systems ultimately leads to improved continuity of care and a complete medical history-useful when soldiers apply for VA medical benefits.

Michael Kilpatrick, M.D. , Director of Strategic Communications for the Military Health System visits NNMC Bethesda "As we left Bethesda from a visit that was anticipated to be for "giving," I realized that once again I had "received." The fortitude and determination of a young Marine had rekindled my resolve to make certain the Military Health System always delivers on this obligation. The energy and enthusiasm of the hospital staff assured me the MHS has skills and compassion to do "the right thing."

The Defense Health Information Management System (DHIMS) provides information management and IT solutions that capture, manage and share healthcare data for the military's Electronic Health Record (EHR).

The Defense Department recently handed out contracts to three companies to design independent living systems for injured vets. They're supposed to help the wounded make the transition from hospitalization to home, and then provide long-term care. Two of the systems being developed, from Ingenium Care, LLC and Camris International, use a wireless network packed with touch screens, motion detectors and wearable, pre-programmed schedulers.

n April, the 3rd Infantry Division (ID) expanded its use of the Army's battlefield electronic medical recording (EMR) system, Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4), to two more garrison aid stations at Fort Stewart, Ga. The 1st Battalion, 64th Armor and 26 Brigade Support Battalion joined the Special Troops Battalion Aid Station at Fort Stewart and the 603rd Aviation Support Battalion at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga., as the first group of 21 garrison aid stations led by the 3rd ID to discontinue the use of paper medical records.

Casscells introduced a new communications strategy for the Military Health System that uses Web 2.0 technologies to improve patient outcomes, family conn

The system is a comprehensive, turnkey solution that monitors multiple casualties within 300 yards of a medic or first-response team.

LANDSTUHL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, Germany - It's faster, more accurate and highly maneuverable. What may sound like the latest weapons system is actually a new way of doing business for doctors at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

A new study has found that more than one-third of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who enrolled in the veterans health system after 2001 received a diagnosis of a mental health problem, most often post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.

The recent global swine flu outbreak has underscored the critical need for good surveillance and access to rapid epidemiological data. The US military, starting with early monitoring efforts in the 1970s, has developed a broad-based influenza monitoring

A new study of US veterans suggests that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and metabolic syndrome, the group of symptoms that increases heart disease and diabetes risk, may be linked. Dr Pia S. Heppner of the Veterans Affairs San Diego Health System in La Jolla and her colleagues found that the more severe a person's PTSD symptoms, the more likely they were to also have the metabolic syndrome. Evidence is mounting that exposure to trauma can worsen physical health, including increasing heart disease risk, Heppner and her team note in the journal BMC Medicine.

Civilian hospitals that provide outpatient services to Tricare beneficiaries got a temporary, 11th-hour reprieve from the Pentagon's proposed plan to have Tricare switch to using Medicare's payment system for those services.

The Military Health System is asking you to "Share Your Care" in a video contest that showcases the people, programs and facilities supporting the health of our service members and families! The Share Your Care contest, is open to all service members, their families and MHS personnel, and it runs Feb. 27 through March 30, 2009.

Working together toward the same end-strengthening the health care capacity and crisis response capabilities of African nations to ultimately empower Africans to improve their health and security-was the theme of a conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Military Health System that introduced the new U.S. Africa Command surgeon to an array of partners from the military, Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the African Union.

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today plans to re-open enrollment in its health care system by July 2009 to about 265,000 veterans whose incomes exceed current limits.

The pilot for a new, jointly-developed DoD-VA disability evaluation system (DES), set to expand from five to 22 military bases by May, does much of what proponents hoped it would. It allows more injured or ill service members to win higher disability ratings, to see VA payments start faster and, through greater transparency in the process, to feel they have been treated more fairly by government.

Defense Health Information Management System (DHIMS) donated over 500 pounds of non-perishable items to the New Hope Housing organization at Thanksgiving time.