Defense top doc nominee labels electronic health records a priority

President Obama's nominee for assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs told a Senate panel on Tuesday developing advanced electronic health record systems in the Defense Department is one of his top goals, second only to the care of wounded troops.

Dr. Jonathan Woodson, who was nominated in April to what is commonly referred to as the top doc post in Defense, said AHLTA, the department's electronic health record system, should shift its focus from capturing administrative data to providing better service to clinicians. He was responding to a question from Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, about the usefulness of AHLTA.

Woodson told the panel he would like to see algorithm-based decision support software incorporated into the system to help clinicians make better decisions, including dispensing drug prescriptions, so military physicians can better deliver "the right care, at the right time, at the right cost."

Levin asked Woodson to compare AHLTA to electronic health record systems used in the private sector, and Woodson, a vascular surgeon who practices at the Boston Medical Center and is an associate dean at Boston University, said the network is "a bit ahead" of systems private hospitals employ.

In his prepared testimony, Woodson said Defense needs to reconfigure AHLTA to accommodate the unique needs of various medical departments and include intuitive systems to support clinicians.

Woodson said if confirmed he would work with the undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics to examine alternatives for a new electronic health record and then quickly appoint a program manager to develop a new system.

In addition, he said he would work with the Veterans Affairs Department to support the easy transition of service members to VA, which would require a compatible electronic health record system and a single rather than dual disability evaluation system for wounded troops.