Noteboom The Law Firm

Paperless Medical Records The Right Choice for the VA

June 21, 2010 - Electronic health records (EHRs) are not a new thing to the military health care system. With the VA facing numerous organizational issues such as backlogs and lost paperwork, their move to using only EHRs is the best thing they can do for the soldiers and veterans they serve.

The Military Health System's Joint Medical Information System has taken an environment where no electronic records existed to an environment where 100% of outpatient electronic record deployment exists. The system is currently on track to complete deployment of all their inpatient electronic records as well.

The progress the Department of Defense (DoD) and the VA have made in creating and utilizing EHRs has been impressive. First responders in Afghanistan, for example, can now access soldier information on the battle field and deliver it to a theater-level hospital in real time. EHRs allow soldiers' health care information to be switched, reorganized, and updated through the health care line to regional facilities. The information will arrive at the hospital before the soldier does.

While EHRs are not new, they are new in the comprehensive information they now possess and how they are used. At first the EHRs contained very limited information and the military was still using paper documentation for patient records. These hard copy medical records could quickly become outdated should a soldier undergo multiple treatments in multiple facilities.

The VA health care system only accepts EHRs from the DoD. The system is so integrated, the VA will never file paper records again. Not to say paper files will not exist, but they will not be passed on to the VA.