Medical records to go electronic with AHLTA

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Stacey Haga
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AFB, Fla. --  The 325th Medical Group, as well as other medical facilities throughout the Air Force, will soon be using the Department of Defense's global electronic health record system to track patient records. 

The system, known as Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application, will be used in 800 clinics and 70 hospitals throughout the military by the end of December, said defense officials. 

"Tyndall began the conversion to electronic records in August 2005, and in October 2005, all new patient encounters were entered electronically," said Capt. Robert Orlando, 325th Medical Support Squadron resource management flight commander. 

The system here will soon be fully integrated with AHLTA, and patient records will be available to nearly 60,000 military healthcare professionals world-wide. 

The new system has the potential to serve more than nine million servicemembers, retirees and their families. 

"This transition gives instant access to patients' health records 24 hours a day, seven days a week. AHLTA enables continuity of care for our military forces from the battlefield to their home base," said Captain Orlando. "When minutes matter the most, this can mean the difference between life and death." 

AHLTA compiles information from multiple locations, so beneficiaries will no longer track records from various sources. Healthcare providers will have access to complete medical records, which will help them determine the appropriate treatment for patients. 

The system will also reduce unnecessary repetition of lab tests or procedures due to unavailable or lost records. 

"Patients are at the heart of our AHLTA efforts," said the captain. "Rather than a record that begins the day it was established, this electronic health record reaches back 25 months into legacy systems to include lab test results, prescriptions and other ancillary information." 

The long-term vision is to be able to update all information in patients' digital medical records from their first encounter on the battlefield, to the care they receive in stateside facilities. Defense officials expect that feature to be possible within the next three years. 

"AHLTA has revolutionized our records department. In the past, it could take hours to find a patient record," said Captain Orlando. "Now it is only a keystroke away."