Planning for the future: the Department of Defense Laboratory Joint Working Group and Global Laboratory Information Transfer.

The Department of Defense (DoD) Laboratory Joint Working Group plans unified laboratory strategy under the auspices of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Board of Governors. One goal of the Laboratory Joint Working Group is to advocate clinical integration through automation of data transfer between medical treatment facilities using the DoD standard platform, Composite Health Care System (CHCS). A working group project team is implementing global laboratory information transfer, which enables CHCS-to-CHCS communication throughout the DoD. A prerequisite to global laboratory information transfer is the standardization of laboratory test nomenclature across all CHCS systems using LOINC (Logical Observation Identifiers, Names and Codes). This makes possible easier access to information among caregivers and therapeutic and public health disease managers and enhances global surveillance of disease outbreaks and continuity of care. The end result is the first-ever electronic transfer of laboratory results between all DoD facilities.