About 60 percent of the military are now on an electronic medical records system that functions worldwide. The military recently put on a public demonstration of the system, called AHLTA, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. AHLTA – not an acronym – is the system’s name.
The $1.2 billion system uses off-the-shelf technology and began phase-in across the force in January 2004, officials said. The system will potentially serve more than 9 million U.S. servicemembers, retirees and their families across the globe. Future plans include sharing military medical information contained on AHLTA with the Veterans Affairs Department.
“This is not just an electronic health record that’s built around one hospital, or even a local community of hospitals. It moves information globally,” said Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.
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