COLUMBIA, S.C. — The entire Department of Defense is getting a new medical records system and here in the Midlands, that includes Fort Jackson, Shaw Air Force Base and the entire central South Carolina market.
Their transition is nearly finished. This means out with the old and in with the new at Moncrief Army Health Clinic.
"Genesis provides a better patient portal access so the patients can access their laboratory, radiology results, they can communicate with their provider easier," Lieutenant Colonel Jason Dailey, chief medical officer said.
The old system, called AHLTA, had it's fair share of issues with a lack of inpatient data, a separate dental system and other systems that didn't communicate well with each other.
So now, for example, dermatology, dental and primary care can all be on the same wavelength.
But with any transition comes some growing pains.
"As September 24th comes along, what we call the go live date, we will have some decreased access to a lot of appointments. And this has been the case at every wave that rolls out. We generally have fewer scheduled appointments as we are learning how to use the new medical records system and as we really get a patient's entire health history built into the new medical records system," Dailey said.
Appointments generally 20 minutes will be more like 40 minutes and access to appointments will be 50% less than normal.
However, the Moncrief Clinic at Fort Jackson explains this is temporary and in the meantime they'll still have their acute care facility open.
The facility has been planning for this the past year. Trainees shouldn't notice any difference in care since recruits are already enrolled in Genesis.
According to the US Army, based on industry averages and the Department of Defense's experience, it takes roughly 90 days for healthcare teams to adjust to new systems and return to normal wait times.
The VA is also looking to switch over to this medical records system.