General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital is finishing preparations in anticipation of a switch to a new, modern electronic health record system.

The new EHR, known as MHS GENESIS, goes online April 24, and will provide a single health record for service members, veterans and their families. MHS GENESIS will integrate inpatient and outpatient solutions that will connect medical and dental information across the continuum of care, from point of injury to the military treatment facility.

According to Army Maj. Cynthia Anderson, GLWACH chief nursing information officer, the hospital is planning several events prior to the switch to ensure hospital staff are familiar with the new data inputs.

“The more exposure end users get to the new system and the changes that go with it, the better prepared they are for go-live,” said Anderson.

Anderson asked for patience with new processes.

“A big change that will affect patient care is the move from Tricare Online Secure Messaging to Patient Portal, which is the MHS GENESIS equivalent,” said Anderson.

Patients need to sign up for Patient Portal after April 24, she said. Patient should also create a DS Logon account prior to the deployment in late April.

“We are also planning a mock go-live event the week before,” Anderson added. “This event is our chance to test workflows that encompass multiple roles from different clinical areas as a multidisciplinary team.”

GLWACH will bring together all the roles required for the process as team members each do their part during the scenario. Each end-user will be able to see and understand the part each role plays into data entry.

“If end users can see the overall picture of how the workflow is supposed to go then they will be better prepared,” said Anderson.