Federal Prisons Seek Advanced EHR, Clinical Decision Support

Jennifer Bresnick | EHR Intelligence | June 3, 2014

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is looking to replace its basic EHR with a more robust commercial offering, according to a request for information (RFI) posted on FedBzOpps.gov this week.  The BOP is specifically looking for clinical decision support capabilities to serve its 219,000 federal inmates and more than 400 physicians at its standard prisons and advanced care facilities.

“The majority of primary health, mental health, and dental care are provided by BOP staff inside the facility,” the RFI says. “Most facilities contract specialty and tertiary care to providers in the local community.  The BOP is seeking detailed information about EHR and clinical decision-making systems, including capabilities such as acute and sub-acute care, allied health services, patient accounting and management, and ambulatory care.”

Specific requirements include advanced patient identification abilities, including the integration of the BOP’s own inmate identification system, and a hardware implementation process that would not be impeded by the secure facilities’ concrete and rebar construction.  BOP would ideally like a highly integrated system that involves surgery management, radiology, PACS, dentistry management, bed management, and overall practice management features...