Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA)

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According to the Military Health System website, AHLTA seemingly had its birth in the State of the Union speech given by President George W. Bush in 2004, when he expressed 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. Others suggest the effort to build a military EMR began as far back as 1997, and the military has invested up to $20 billion to do so (http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2008/09/another-walter-reed-scandal-medical-records.html). Many observers have questioned why the DoD chose to build their own system instead of adopting the VA system, VistA. User satisfaction with AHLTA is reportedly low (http://www.healthbeatblog.org/2008/09/ahlta-textbook.html), and there are ongoing attempts to address user issues.


AHLTA is both knowledgeable and proactive. Health care personnel receive wellness reminders for their patients. The system also proactively provides critical information that alerts clinicians of possible medical outbreaks so that they may better prepare for these scenarios. Another important aspect that this product brought onto a worldwide scale 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.


CHCS: Composite health Care System. The introduction of AHLTA, previously known as the Composite Health Care System II, marks a significant new era in health care for the MHS and the nation.CITPO began the implementation of AHLTA, the DoD's electronic health record (EHR), in January 2004. It is a "next generation" system that links the 481 Military Treatment Facilities (MTF) world-wide as well as service members deployed abroad to the EHR, ultimately supporting 9.2 million MHS beneficiaries. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_Health_Care_System

AHLTA 3.3, a major enhancement to Block 1, is the newest version of AHLTA. As with other releases, AHLTA 3.3 consolidates data into a single database and continues to support the delivery of advanced medical care in hospital and clinical settings worldwide. Completed in December 2008 and currently in deployment, AHLTA 3.3 offers software enhancements that focus on system performance and speed. It also features new modules that are key to providing service men and women, along with their beneficiaries, the finest health technology service in the world. Reference: (http://dhims.health.mil/userSupport/ahlta/sysInfo.aspx)