October 7, 2025
How HCD Could Have Prevented DoD’s EHR Misstep
Introduction to the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application Failing
The Department of Defense’s (DoD) Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA) was designed to unify medical records across all military treatment facilities, coordinate care between providers, enhance patient readiness, and to improve patient outcomes. However, the project ultimately fell short of expectations due to the system being slow, difficult to navigate, and poorly integrated into clinical workflows. This made the system burdensome for those who needed it most. Additionally, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the DoD launched the program without having a clear project management or system engineering plan. This means that the system failed to meet functional requirements and was disconnected from real-world user needs. Even after these issues were identified, the DoD failed to perform independent usability evaluations, which continued to leave clinicians and patients with an inefficient system. Therefore, the lack of oversight and usability planning undermined confidence across the military health community. Ultimately, a tool that was meant to streamline care created new barriers and inefficiencies for those who needed it most.
Integrating HCD and Clinical Collaboration
A major contributor to the system failing was the lack of stakeholder involvement during design and testing. For instance, end users such as doctors, nurses, and medical staff were rarely involved in the decision-making. This led to a product being created that did not align with current workflows or operational realities. This is where a company like HITS, which pushes for human-centered design, comes in to transform these outcomes.
HITS ensures that every healthcare technology solution begins with user research, collaborative prototyping, and user validation. This means that early clinician engagement would be used to identify usability issues long before launch, so that systems wouldn’t disrupt preexisting clinical operations. HITS also focuses on infusing empathy and emotional intelligence into every solution. This supports technologies that adhere to the mission of healthcare, such as enhancing accuracy, efficiency, and satisfaction in care. Furthermore, this approach not only improves system performance but also strengthens trust among end users. By uncovering unmet user requirements early and reducing unnecessary rework, HITS ensures faster delivery and successful adoption across complex healthcare environments.
Creating Solutions with Empathy and Innovation
Another critical flaw of the AHLTA program was the absence of strong oversight and accountability. This is because the AHLTA program lacked a governance plan that would have provided clear leadership, communication, and measurable goals. This absence ultimately led to inconsistent progress and wasted resources that should have gone into improving patient outcomes. This program failure highlights how the lack of accountability leads to systems failing to evolve effectively.
A company like HITS, which provides organizational governance and project management services, would address these issues by establishing frameworks for strategic planning, data governance, and change management. HITS provides transparent and ethical innovation that would have guided the DoD toward measurable outcomes. This means providing system reliability, maintaining compliance, and pushing for continuous improvement. By integrating accountability into every layer, HITS enables leadership to make data-informed decisions that prevent the issues faced with AHLTA.
The Importance of Building Sustainable Systems
When healthcare fails, it results in patients being at risk, as well as damaging care delivery and trust. The DoD’s EHR challenges highlight how poor planning, missing user involvement, and a lack of testing can spiral into unnecessary rework, widespread inefficiencies, and prevents sustainable systems. Furthermore, these issues were preventable. For instance, a company like HITS would avoid these issues by ensuring that healthcare management solutions are empathetic, safe, reliable, and secure by directly involving stakeholders and pushing for accountability when it comes to meeting functional requirements. We provide technology with heart, which creates solutions that enhance rather than replace human connection. This also makes sure that solutions are designed to meet real-world needs, which ultimately avoids costly rework, promotes empathy, and streamlines successful user adoption.
HITS
HITS provides healthcare management services and partners with stakeholders to design health informatics tools that promote safe, secure, and reliable care experiences by ensuring that technology implements empathy, accountability, transparency, and human-centered design from the start. By infusing empathy and emotional intelligence into every solution, we ensure technology enhances rather than replaces or hinders human connection. By combining government expertise with healthcare management, we deliver collaborative, high-quality solutions across military, federal, and commercial sectors. We take pride in our services and settle for nothing other than 100% quality solutions for our clients. Having the right team assist with data sharing is crucial to encouraging collaborative and secure care. If you’re looking for the right team that delivers technology with heart, HITS is it! You can reach out to us directly at info@healthitsol.com. Check out this link if you’re interested in having a 15-minute consultation with us: https://bit.ly/3RLsRXR.