New MHS GENESIS Capabilities Deployed at BAMC and LACKLAND (2024)

Trauma personnel receive an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or ECMO patient into the Emergency Department at Brooke Army Medical Center, Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Jan. 24, 2022. MHS GENESIS new functionalities support BAMC’s Level I Trauma Center. (Photo: Corey Toye, Brooke Army Medical Center)

Earlier this year, Click to closeWave BAMC Brooke Army Medical Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, TX.Wave BAMC and Click to closeWave LACKLAND59th Medical Wing (Wilford Hall ASC) at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, TX; 359th Medical Group at JBSA-Randolph Clinic, Randolph AFB, TX; 7th Medical Group at Dyess Air Force Base, TX; 17th Medical Group at Goodfellow Air Force Base, TX; 47th Medical Group at Laughlin Air Force Base, TX; and Naval Health Clinic Corpus Christi at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, TX.Wave LACKLAND simultaneously deployed the new federal electronic health record (EHR), which the DOD calls MHS GENESIS. With these waves, six more Military Treatment Facility Commands deployed MHS GENESIS including Brooke Army Medical Center, Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Dyess Air Force Base, Goodfellow AFB, Lackland AFB and Laughlin AFB.

BAMC is the largest hospital in the Military Health System and houses the DOD's only Level 1 trauma center and specialized burn unit. BAMC's unique medical capabilities including trauma, burn and comprehensive extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) specialty units required new functions within the EHR that created an enterprise standard.

BAMC also has the highest population of patients enrolled in the Secretarial Designee (SECDES) program in the United States. The SECDES program allows civilian patients suffering from a variety of trauma, burn, and ECMO injuries to be treated by military physicians. This program provides more opportunities for military providers to keep their specialized skills sharp.

The SECDES program requires advanced data-sharing with civilian clinicians and insurance providers to communicate health histories and insurance claims for proper coordination of care. What was once a cumbersome and decentralized communication process is now standardized and automated within MHS GENESIS which greatly improves the patient experience.

Additionally, the burn workflows incorporated into MHS GENESIS immediately benefit patients and providers.

For example, MHS GENESIS now assists clinicians by calculating burn surface area percentages and automatically advises the proper aggressiveness of treatment. In order to hit the ground running, the BAMC burn team logged into MHS GENESIS in advance to set up frequently used clinical orders; consequently, BAMC leadership detected no gaps in content upon Go-Live.

Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Zachary Sonnier, the PowerChart inpatient solution owner at Defense Health Agency - Health Informatics, detailed the improved ease of documentation within the new EHR. Users can now co-sign all of their residents' documents in minutes. Previously, it took two-and-a-half hours with the legacy inpatient system. MHS GENESIS also saves clinicians time in documenting care, so they can spend more time providing care to their patients. Rather than manually entering notes into multiple legacy systems, staff can now complete notes quickly because MHS GENESIS auto-populates much of the documentation during the patient encounter.

Managing medications also improved upon deployment of MHS GENESIS throughout the enterprise with the Medication Administration Record (MAR) Summary. The MAR makes finding missed or delayed doses much faster. In the MAR Summary, users can also change the administration time of a medication without having to re-order it.

The Mass Readiness module within the FirstNet solution is a new component of MHS GENESIS. This module is used within the military for all facets of readiness – from military entrance processing to annual readiness of entire units. This Mass Readiness module enables basic training staff to identify, track and update readiness information including dental and vision records, immunizations, and behavioral health for thousands of trainees simultaneously.

Deploying MHS GENESIS at Lackland AFB proved an opportune and successful test of the Mass Readiness capability. Air Force Maj. Crystal McClatchey, the FirstNet solution owner and ER nurse, described the Mass Readiness module rollout as "a relief for end users, even though it's a challenge to learn a new system," which is why deployment teams provide several ways to help new users, such as MTF Commander workshops, local classroom training, on-demand video training, and onsite pay-it-forward volunteers with MHS GENESIS experience providing at-the-elbow assistance in the care setting.

The standardized capabilities developed within MHS GENESIS ahead of the most recent Go-Lives will improve the care coordination experience for all patients and providers throughout the MHS enterprise.