Skip to main content

Military Health System

MHS GENESIS ‘Super Users’ Fuel MTF Transformations

Image of Military personnel cutting the cord during the system's launch. Military personnel cutting the cord during the system's launch

Recommended Content:

MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | MHS GENESIS Pre-Deployment Awareness | MHS GENESIS

The rollout of MHS GENESIS, the Military Health System's new electronic health records system, is bringing fundamental changes to military treatment facilities (MTFs) around the world. Among those tech experts helping to bring about the change, at both small clinics and major hospitals, the changeover is often called a "transformation."

From within those MTFs, a handful of new MHS GENESIS users have been trained as "Super Users," who play an important role in assisting the new end users of the system - the actual caregivers and staff of an MTF and peers who will be the ones using MHS GENESIS daily.

"The role of the Super User is to take their additional information, their training, and the additional hands-on experience that they get during their journey, to help an organization go through [the] transformation," said Kevin Abraham, change management team lead for the DoD Healthcare Management System Modernization Program Management Office in Rosslyn, Virginia. He's one of the people charged with deploying MHS GENESIS around the world, and helping to foster the development of Super Users.

"The way a Super User does that successfully is [to] work with their middle management - a department head, a clinic supervisor - to help understand and plan their local work flow," Abraham said.

"As we go live with MHS GENESIS at a facility like we just did in Hawaii, these Super Users really are that first line of support. They're able to help their peers as they go through the transformation's first couple of days."

MHS GENESIS is the new electronic health record system that the Military Health System, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Coast Guard are implementing worldwide. It will allow a seamless exchange of current patient information among providers across the system.

Super Users always come from within a given MTF, and their number is about one for every 20 or so personnel, Abraham explained. They are a blend of military caregivers and civilians, from different medical disciplines.

MHS GENESIS trainer, training military personnel
Marion Kimani, an MHS GENESIS trainer, gives instruction to Airman 1st Class Jenna Slaughter, 355th mental health technician, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, in April 2021 (Photo by: U. S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Blake Gonzales).

"Every site is unique," he said. "Whether it's the layout of the building, how they're staffed, what their clinical capabilities are, [etc.]. In order to be effective, we want to foster that ... and infuse it with further understanding of MHS GENESIS and the nuances to it."

To be successful in the role of a Super User, it helps to have an understanding of how everyone else's roles work, added Air Force Capt. Jordan Serck, a nurse and element chief of the base operational medicine clinic at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas.

"I can't just understand how GENESIS works from a nurse's perspective," Serck said. "I also have to understand it from the doctor-provider perspective, the technician's, the front desk, even some of the specialty clinics [like] public health, optometry - I help with them as well."

Abraham explained how Super Users assist in the implementation of MHS GENESIS "by either answering questions about the local work flow or helping users navigate the system." Subsequently, he said, some Super Users go on to become part of the MHS GENESIS "Pay It Forward" program, going to locations targeted for near-future implementation and helping them prepare to go live.

Serck added how Super Users and end users only get so much from the computer-based training.

"The familiarity with the system really comes from hands-on experience and having somebody come over their shoulder to guide them through the process," he said.

"When we initially went live ... my primary job [became] making sure other people could do their primary jobs. Having a Super User who is knowledgeable in every role is absolutely key to success. Otherwise, people just get frustrated with the system and they would give up on the change."

So, it was especially fortunate to McConnell's new users that Serck had been through the training before - he had become a Super User at his former duty station, Travis Air Force Base in California, and had helped out with MHS GENESIS trainings at several other bases in the meantime. McConnell's system came on line in April, and after a slow walk at the start, things are at a full jog right now, Serck reports.

"Nobody likes big changes, right?" he said. "But I could tell them what it was like, and lessons learned from my previous assignment at Travis, so that they could know this is actually a beneficial change in a lot of ways. I can tell you the ways that it made my life easier. I can tell you some of the challenges, and the way we make improvements, by letting [the Defense Health Agency] know we recommend a process improvement for this or that."

The Super User, or "peer expert" as Abraham calls them, "is the fuel that drives our facilities' organizational transformation."

Abraham agrees with Serck - Super Users are "critical to the success of the implementation," Abraham said.

"The best learning happens when it's somebody who is familiar with you, and what you do. ... People just receive information better if they see that person as a peer."

You also may be interested in...

Yes, You Can Still Get Old Medical Records after MHS GENESIS Transition

Article
10/1/2021
Image of the back of a man scanning IT equioment

As the Military Health System rolls out a standardized electronic health record, MHS GENESIS, across all Defense Health Agency-managed military medical treatment facilities, legacy patient records are kept in the Joint Longitudinal Viewer application.

Recommended Content:

MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | MHS GENESIS

MHS GENESIS: A New Era of Electronic Health Care Record Keeping

Article Around MHS
10/1/2021
Col. Stephanie Ku, 15th Medical Group commander, cuts a cord with 15th MDG members and Military Health System Genesis project integrators during the MHS Genesis launch ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Sept. 25, 2021.

The new electronic health record provides enhanced and secure technology to manage health information and is intended to serve as a focal point for all military branches.

Recommended Content:

MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | MHS GENESIS

MHS GENESIS: Coming Soon to a Hawaii MTF Near You

Article
9/24/2021
A naval doctor works on the new MHS GENESIS EHR.

Wave TRIPLER to go-live in Hawaii.

Recommended Content:

MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | MHS GENESIS

Coast Guard launches electronic health record system in Pacific Area

Article
9/3/2021
Coast Guard medical personnel using MHS GENESIS

U.S. Coast Guard launches electronic health record system in Pacific Area, and moves from paper records to a new EHR.

Recommended Content:

MHS GENESIS Pre-Deployment Awareness | MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | MHS GENESIS

Federal leaders highlight electronic health record changes at HIMSS

Article
8/31/2021
Federal leaders being interviewed

The new Federal electronic health record delivers data to healthcare teams wherever a patient receives treatment.

Recommended Content:

Health Care Technology | MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record

Retinopathy of Prematurity, Important Focus for Military Eye Doctors

Article
6/23/2021
Health personnel conducting a morning assessment on an infant

Retinopathy of Prematurity is a little-known disease with big risks.

Recommended Content:

Children's Health | MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | Centers of Excellence

Leadership Discusses Lessons Learned from Latest MHS GENESIS Waves

Article
6/15/2021
Military personnel during a virtual round table discussion

Representatives from PEO DHMSM, FEHRM, and the MHS provide an update on the progress and lessons learned since the most recent deployment of MHS GENESIS.

Recommended Content:

MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | Military Health System Transformation

Coast Guard set to roll out new electronic health record system soon

Article
5/28/2021
Hands typing on a computer

U.S. Coast Guard prepares to deploy new electronic health record, MHS GENESIS, at 14 clinics and 17 sickbays in the Pacific Area by the end of August 2021.

Recommended Content:

MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record

MHS Minute May 2021

Video
5/28/2021
Image of MHS Minute Carousel

In this month's MHS Minute, the DHA's commitment to transforming military health continues. The DHA officially established the Tidewater market in SE Virginia, serving over 200,000 patients. The MHS is standing up 19 markets like Tidewater to allow healthcare providers to better meet the needs of their patients by improving coordination between facilities in the area.

Recommended Content:

Military Health System Transformation | MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | Health Readiness & Combat Support | MHS GENESIS

Peer-to-peer Pay-It-Forward program paying dividends for MHS GENESIS

Article
5/24/2021
Military health personnel learning how to use MHS GENESIS

The Defense Health Agency’s Pay It Forward program was designed to leverage the experience of those who had gone through the congressionally ordered changeover to MHS GENESIS to help new users. It’s working.

Recommended Content:

MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record

DHA Director visits MCAGCC to hear from the ‘Boots on the Ground’

Article
5/19/2021
Military personnel wearing face masks walking

DHA Director visits Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms.

Recommended Content:

MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | Military Health System Transformation | Coronavirus & the MHS Response | Coronavirus and the COVID-19 Vaccine

DHA leadership recognizes, advances 60th MDG mission

Article
5/14/2021
Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Place visits Travis Air Force Base

DHA leadership visit 60th Medical Group at Travis AFB.

Recommended Content:

Coronavirus & the MHS Response | Coronavirus and the COVID-19 Vaccine | MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record

Eielson nurse says technology, readiness integral to military nursing

Article
5/10/2021
Military health personnel checking the ears of a patient

Air Force 1st Lt. Katelyn Schoneweis, a clinical nurse at Eielson Medical Clinic at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, said technology like MHS GENESIS, working with the Army and her commander’s increased focus on readiness have already benefitted her early in her career.

Recommended Content:

MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | Nursing in the Military Health System

DHA, HA leaders discuss MHS Transformation at AHA panel

Article
5/6/2021
Military personnel talking at a podium

Army Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Ronald Place and Dr. Terry Adirim discussed MHS Transformation, MHS GENESIS, and highlighted the DHA’s response to COVID-19 in a virtual roundtable hosted April 12 by the American Hospital Association.

Recommended Content:

MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | Military Health System Transformation | Coronavirus & the MHS Response | Coronavirus and the COVID-19 Vaccine | Readiness Capabilities

Wave CARSON+ deploys new EHR to 25 more MTF commands

Article
4/30/2021
Military health personnel wearing face mask looking at  a computer

MHS GENESIS, the DOD’s new electronic health record launched at Wave CARSON + over the weekend.

Recommended Content:

MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | MHS GENESIS Pre-Deployment Awareness | MHS GENESIS
<< < 1 2 3 4 5  ... > >> 
Showing results 46 - 60 Page 4 of 7
Refine your search
Last Updated: January 27, 2023
Follow us on Instagram Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on YouTube Sign up on GovDelivery