Military Healthcare Systems Rely on InterSystems Technology

The federal government runs the largest healthcare network in the United States. The Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) includes over 1,300 hospitals, clinics, and other facilities, and treats more than 5.4 million patients annually. Those patients receive what has become widely recognized as the finest care available in the United States, thanks in part to efficient information technology based on the high-performance Caché database.

The keystone application of the VA’s healthcare system is the VistA electronic health record. Via a Web portal, VistA instantly provides doctors with a complete medical record, including clinical and historical data, for each patient they treat. The VistA system also includes a physician order entry module and will bring up reminders for follow-up care, immunizations, and so on.

The VA has an ongoing and beneficial relationship with InterSystems. VistA was built originally on InterSystems’ technology, and with the upgrade to Caché the VA has seen major performance increases. The VA has used Caché to build a number of other applications as well. These include the Bar Code Medication Application. Using handheld devices to scan bar codes on patients’ wristbands and drug containers, nurses can be certain of giving the right medication in the right dose to the right patient.

The Department of Defense Military Health Systems (MHS) also bases its primary health information system, as well as a similar system used in combat deployments, on InterSystems’ technology. With an upgrade to Caché, the DoD MHS expects a dramatic increase in performance and scalability, reduced hardware requirements, and a more open environment for greater interoperability. In fact, since both the DoD and the VA will be using Caché for their core applications, exchanging information between the two systems will be very easy. All U.S. military personnel, whether on active duty or retired, will have complete medical information available with just a few clicks of a mouse.