The Department of the Army said it is reviewing industry capabilities for an electronic medical records (EMR) system for its worldwide Army & Air Force Exchange vision care business. This new EMR calls for integration with Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs clinical systems.
The Army & Air Force Exchange is a combined retail organization of the departments that oversee the sale of food, catalog, and healthcare services, including vision care, for the military, guard, and reserve members and their families.
In an announcement earlier this month in Federal Business Opportunities, potential vendors were notified that they will need to provide information about their EMR systems, along with an explaination of their systems' certification status under Meaningful Use Stage 1, readiness for certification for later stages and requirements already built into their systems for electronic prescribing, clinical decision support templates, and quality metrics, according to an article by Government Health IT.
The EMR also would have to link with the VA's Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) EMR since many patients often seek care from facilities in both departments.
The Army also is interested in electronic claims submission to third-party payers and financial analysis tools; integrated image management; inventory management; and business intelligence.
For more details:
- read the Government Health IT article
- see the Federal Business Opportunities announcement