Starting this month, the Defense Department (DoD)inspector general will conduct an audit of the U.S. Army’s electronic health record system.

The purpose of the audit, according to a memo from Carol Gorman, assistant IG for readiness and cyberoperations, “is to determine whether the Army designed and implemented effective security protocols to protect electronic health records and individually identifiable health information from unauthorized access and disclosure.”

The security of patient health records is an issue both the public and private sectors continue to struggle with, especially as hacks mount. Just last week Banner Health reported that a cyberattack ultimately led to patient and health plan member information being compromised. And in late June, a hacker put records for roughly 655,000 patients across three hospitals for sale online.

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The Army audit will be performed at U.S. Army Medical Command, the Multi-Service Market led by the Army in the Puget Sound Region, the Army medical center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, as well as an Army hospital and clinic at Fort Carson, Colorado.

There may be more locations included during the audit, Gorman says. She adds that it will be the first in a series of audits of the Military over the security of EHRs and identifiable health data.

The DoD, along with the Department of Veterans Affairs, has seen its fair share of issues when it comes to EHRs.

In early June the DoD IG said the department’s schedule for implementing its new EHR system might be too aggressive. In addition, just last month, the Government Accountability Office said the VA’s approach to addressing its EHR needs is “uncertain” and that full interoperability with the DoD is “years away.”

To learn more:

- here's the memo