Anything is possible in the electronic health record world we live in. It's trumpeted as a great way to ease costs and streamline problems in healthcare. But at the Department of Defense, top health officials say that it crashes too often--at least once a week--and generates duplicate records.

That's a real headache, according to Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, who testified at a joint hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday before the subcommittees on Military Personnel and Terrorism, and on Unconventional Threats and Capabilities.

The system, called AHLTA, is in charge of millions of healthcare records. In addition to the crashes and duplication, it's missing a template that is suitable for specialists who need to draw diagrams showing a patient's specific ailments. And clinicians spend 40 percent of their time putting data into the system instead of caring for patients, according to the testimony.

The Military Health System, which oversees the program, is working to stabilize it. The crashes were caused by a software package developed by BEA Systems--now owned by Oracle. The next generation program will be developed using open standards, which will allow the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service to build components of the system, according to congressional testimony.

But the real question is: When will all these headaches end?

For more on DoD's computer woes:
- check out this nextgov.com article