DOD asks EHR providers about infrastructure info

The Defense Department is asking for the minimum infrastructure specifications that providers need to know to support an enterprise-level electronic health record (EHR) product.

The DOD Healthcare Management System Modernization program office plans to centralize enterprise functions and use existing DOD hosting services, networks and devices to reduce the cost and complexity of managing an EHR.

In a new request for information, the department wants industry feedback on information that companies would need from the program office to propose a viable solution that uses the existing DOD infrastructure. DOD is also asking what information it needs to provide regarding the minimum infrastructure required to support the deployment of an enterprise-level EHR product.

So far, DOD intends to release information on the locations of data centers and military hospitals, end-user and device characteristics. They will provide details on the as-is communications infrastructure, and technical metrics defining required system performance, availability, and security requirements.

DOD released the RFI April 11. Responses are due by April 25.