July 5, 2023
Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center (FHCC) will receive the same single, common federal electronic health record (EHR) as other Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) sites. The federal EHR provides flexibility to configure the EHR to meet specific facilities’ needs while still maintaining interoperability between the Departments. Through established governance and change control processes, DOD, VA and Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) sites can each request configuration changes as long as these changes do not interfere or prohibit interoperability between the Departments. As a result, any Departments using the federal EHR can access these changes and benefit from additional capabilities their facility may need.
As a fully integrated joint sharing site, Lovell FHCC does require unique approaches to some configurations and deployment activities. These include the following:
Patient Care Location (PCL) Hierarchies. PCL hierarchies correspond to physical locations of patients receiving health care services, with facilities at the top level of the hierarchy followed by buildings, nursing units, rooms and beds. Unlike other sites that use either a DOD or VA PCL hierarchy, Lovell FHCC will use two PCL hierarchies—one for each Department, in their respective facilities. Using both DOD and VA PCL hierarchies enables each Department to satisfy their respective statutory requirements.
• Provider User Role Assignments: User roles enable Department-specific workflows, and assignments determine the training staff receive on the federal EHR. Lovell FHCC staff will be assigned a DOD or VA user role based on PCL alignment of the clinic or location where they provide care, not their Department alignment. Some areas, such as pharmacy, behavioral health and occupational health, will require staff assignment of both DOD and VA roles.
• Deployment Responsibilities: The FEHRM, DoD Healthcare Management System Modernization Program Management Office and VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office have roles and responsibilities in deploying the federal EHR at Lovell FHCC. These responsibilities vary for each of the high-level deployment events. For the adoption and site activation deployment events, DOD will lead, working closely with VA to supplement. Conversely, each Department will provide its respective training, infrastructure and devices to Lovell FHCC, based on PCL alignment. Regardless of role alignment, the Departments will execute all deployment events in a coordinated manner.
• Patient Portals. Lovell FHCC will use DOD and VA patient portals. DOD beneficiaries will use the DOD patient portal, and VA beneficiaries will use the VA patient portal. Dual eligible patients can use either portal.
Article link: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/unique-approaches-lovell-fhcc-federal-ehr-deployment-fehrm
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