FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash -- The 92nd Medical Group strives to provide the highest quality patient-centered care to the 10,500 people enrolled to a provider here at Fairchild Air Force Base, as well as the 38,000 beneficiaries who have access to our pharmacy and other ancillary services.
As many of you may have already heard, the 92nd MDG is the pilot site for the Department of Defense‘s new Electronic Health Record system named MHS GENESIS.
You might now be asking, “What does this mean to me, as the patient?”
MHS GENESIS will integrate inpatient and outpatient systems and will connect medical and dental information across the continuum of care. It will better connect us to our downtown civilian healthcare partners, which will improve the secure sharing of your healthcare information between your medical providers. Furthermore, it will improve our ability to monitor patient safety, outcomes and population health data.
As this transition begins, each of your healthcare team members will receive anywhere from 6-30 hours of extensive training on the new system depending on the role the person serves in the clinic. As a result, there will be impacts to our access to care during the next few months.
The MDG has processes in place to help you navigate our system during the times when available appointments will be reduced. If you call the appointment line and we do not have available appointments at the MTF, you will be offered a referral downtown to an urgent care center for acute issues or a family health clinic for routine problems. We have signed letters of agreement with several clinics downtown to assist us in taking care of our patients during this transition time.
Your extended healthcare team here can also provide care without an appointment for certain non-complex issues. For example, if you have a sore throat and want to make sure you don’t have strep throat or if you think you have a urinary tract infection or are pregnant, you can be seen without a scheduled appointment. Just call the appointment line and they can help you access this service if you are eligible.
If you are active duty, you should be seen here at the 92nd MDG, because your health condition may affect your ability to perform your military work and could result in a profile or quarters. For that reason, we will make every effort to see you even if we do not have available appointments. When you call, if there are no appointments available, you can ask the appointment line to leave a message for the team nurse who will call you back and assess your symptoms and then work with your PCM to address your health concern.
After hours, you can be connected to the Nurse Advice Line from our phone tree. You should use this option if you are not sure if you need a face-to-face appointment. The nurse will review your symptoms and give you a recommendation. If an appointment is recommended, they will schedule the appointment at our clinic or you will be provided a referral to one of our downtown urgent care center partners.
Over the next few months, we will introduce you to MHS GENESIS through emails, mailings, social media and town halls. As always, we appreciate your feedback so please feel free to contact us via the ICE survey (https://ice.disa.mil). We listen to all of your comments and have made several changes in our processes based on your feedback. Once we fully transition to MHS GENESIS, you will have access to a patient portal that will allow you to be fully engaged in your healthcare. You will be able to book appointments, refill medications, email your healthcare team and review your labs/x-rays/provider notes and discharge instructions. As we get closer to our go-live date, we will advertise how you can access this functionality.
We look forward to our new EHR and how it will enhance our ability to become true partners in your health.
More information about MHS GENESIS can be found here: http://www.health.mil/mhsgenesis.