Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA)

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According to the military, AHLTA had its birth in the State of the Union speech given by President George W. Bush in 2004, with a goal to have most Americans have their own electronic health record by 2014(http://www.ha.osd.mil/AHLTA/). The Department of Defense (DoD) set their target for the military for 2011. DoD chose not to use the VA system VistA, but build their own, at a cost of up to $20 billion (http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2008/09/another-walter-reed-scandal-medical-records.html),and seems to have started the attempt in 1997. Satisfaction with the system is reportedly low (http://www.healthbeatblog.org/2008/09/ahlta-textbook.html), and there are ongoing attempts to address user issues. One important aspect this product brought to the world, however, was the ability to capture data on handheld devices in the battlefield. It has also allowed the extremely mobile military force to have medical information available worldwide.