DHIC Developing COVID-19 Mobile Test Kit Integration Capability for the DoD

March 31, 2021  |  Download PDF

TATRC’s Digital Health Innovation Center (DHIC) has begun work on a fast turnaround project to capture COVID-19 diagnostic test data and transfer this information into the DoD Electronic Health Record (EHR) and COVID-19 surveillance dashboards. The effort, called ‘Project Impulse,’ is funded through the CARES Act and developed in partnership with the DoD COVID Diagnostics and Testing Task Force, the Defense Health Agency (DHA) and the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND). The JPEO CBRND supports both DHA and U.S. Department Health and Human Services in COVID-19 response efforts including the test, integration and procurement of several simple to use and portable Point of Care (PoC) Diagnostic (Dx) test systems able to be employed in non-traditional testing settings.

The initial capability under development will enable DoD PoC Dx test operators to securely report patient COVID diagnostic test results using the TATRC mCare mobile application and transfer that data to the Mobile Health Care Environment (MHCE) web portal. The mCare Impulse application will be vendor agnostic, enabling the results of many types of COVID tests to be reported without the need for repeated integration efforts with each. Additional features support PoC Dx test asset supply chain and inventory visibility for using units and DoD decision makers and aggregation of daily test data to support COVID surveillance reporting. The second phase will ensure test results are automatically transferred to the DoD EHR via the Military Health System (MHS) Defense Exchange Service (DES).

This is the second major effort that the TATRC DHIC team is developing for JPEO-CBRND. The other initiative is Project Boom; the development of mobile device and desktop software applications to collect, visualize, and longitudinally record individual blast overpressure exposure data in training and combat environments. Ms. Tabitha Waldrop, TATRC’s lead for both Project Impulse and Project Boom, stated, “I’m excited to work with the JPEO CBRND office on another high energy, incredibly relevant project, especially in such an important effort for our Service Members during this pandemic and the fight against the spread of COVID-19.”

For more information on this project, please contact Ms. Jeanette Little, jeanette.r.little.civ@mail.mil.