MHS GENESIS, the Coast Guard’s new electronic health record solution deployed to the Coast Guard’s 26 clinics and 48 sickbays in the Atlantic Area last week. This rollout launches the system and creates an electronic health record for the remainder of the Coast Guard’s military members.
A “soft” go-live took place outside of normal business hours Nov. 6, 2021, allowing all Atlantic Wave clinics to test the system and document real-time patient care prior to a full day of scheduled patients. A patient’s first, real-time care documentation within MHS GENESIS may be specific to a functional area within their clinic, including medical and dental primary and specialty care, and any applicable ancillary care, such as laboratory and pharmacy.
Customers may notice a delay in care as the service deploys and adopts MHS GENESIS. The transition to this system has a steep learning curve and requires significant changes in business practices. It is anticipated that sites will return to pre-deployment service levels within two to three months.
Patients assigned to Atlantic Area cl
inics and sickbays can now usse the MHS GENESIS Patient Portal to gain 24/7 access to personal health information documented within MHS GENESS. They can also use the system to exchange messages with their Coast Guard health care team. Please keep in mind most patients enrolled to a TRICARE Network or a Department of Defense Military Treatment Facility that has not deployed MHS GENESIS, will have very limited documentation within MHS GENESIS initially.
The MHS GENESIS Patient Portal includes direct appointment booking; however, at this time, the health services program is asking patients to refrain from the direct booking feature through the patient portal and, rather, use the request an appointment feature.
“The direct booking function is currently impractical for Coast Guard use as it does not ensure patients are booked into an appointment most appropriate for their needs and with the correct provider,” said Cmdr. Leah Preston, the chief of Medical Administration in the office of Health, Safety and Work-Life. “In the meantime, patients should request appointments through traditional methods of calling or sending a patient portal message to the scheduling team.”
In addition, patients and staff associated with the Puerto Rico Clinic at Base Detachment Borinquen should expect a delay in MHS GENESIS access and utilization. The final delivery of MHS GENESIS to the Puerto Rico Clinic was impacted by technical limitations that are not expected to be resolved until sometime around August 2022.
To access the MHS GENESIS Patient Portal visit patientportal.mhsgenesis.health.mil or scan the QR code. Members needing to access the Patient Portal through non-CAC enabled device (e.g. a smart phone, web browser, personal computer, etc.), can do so by creating a Premium DS Logon account. For further information on: how to register, get an overview of the Patient Portal, or to learn more about the comprehensive benefits of switching to MHS GENSIS, visit the Coast Guard’s MHS GENESIS website.
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