Wilson Opening Statement for Joint Hearing on Department of Defense Health Information Technology

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 24, 2009

Congressman Joe Wilson (SC-02), Ranking Member of the Military Personnel Subcommittee, released the following prepared remarks today for the subcommittee’s joint hearing with the Terrorism, Unconventional Threats, and Capabilities Subcommittee on Department of Defense (DOD) health information technology.

“Thank you Chairwoman Davis. I appreciate joining our good friends on the Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities subcommittee today, led by my long-time friend Vice Chairman Mike McIntyre and the extraordinary Ranking Member Jeff Miller, for our hearing on the Military Health System’s information technology and electronic health record. I welcome the distinguished members of our two panels.

“A unique aspect of military service is that military members and their families move every few years. For that reason alone, it is critical that the Department of Defense have an electronic health system that can follow our military wherever they happen to be…including in a combat zone. I know first-hand of its importance, with four sons currently in the military—two have served in Iraq, another in Egypt, and the fourth just joined the Army National Guard. We must have a military health system capable of documenting health care provided to service members throughout their time in the military and be accessible to the Veterans Administration when they leave military service.

“Thirty years ago the Department of Defense recognized the need for an electronic health system. To their credit, the Department began the enormous task of developing and fielding a system designed not only to function as an electronic health record but to also capture health data that can be used for population screening and medical surveillance.

“Today we will hear from our witnesses about the DOD electronic health system known as AHLTA. While I applaud the Department for the tremendous effort it took to field this system, I have serious concerns about the state of this system today.

“The committee has heard from military doctors and nurses who use AHLTA that it is unreliable, difficult to use, and has decreased the number of patients they can see each day. We have also heard that medical professionals leave the military because of their frustration with AHLTA.

“I hope our military service witnesses here today will touch on what they believe needs to be done to make the system work for their medical professionals. From the DOD witnesses, I would appreciate their perspective on how they plan to fix the system to make it more reliable, user friendly and easier for our terrific military personnel to provide the best medical care to our troops and their families.

“With that, I would like to thank our witnesses for participating in the hearing today. I look forward to your testimony.”

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