The Defense Health Information Management System (DHIMS) is gearing up for a test of its Medical Situational Awareness in the Theater (MSAT) portal, which supports decision-making at military medical units by allowing users to view potential health threats to troops graphically.

After the test, MSAT is expected to move from a prototype phase to a program of record. A second phase of the rollout is under way and will allow MSAT to graphically display data from a larger number of databases. A first phase was completed last summer.

MSAT fulfills a “need in the current environment to combine medically relevant data with operational data so commanders can make more informed and timely medical decisions,” said Navy Lt. Mark Beckner, the MSAT project manager.

Akimeka, of Kihei, Hawaii, is developing a service-oriented architecture for the system.

MSAT allows user-defined displays and analytical tools to generate a single picture of an area from disparate information sources such as threat intelligence, patient tracking and weather reports.

MSAT’s first phase created a user interface and allowed access to data sources such as Travax, an international medical resource; JMeWS Disease Surveillance, a data analysis tool that uncovers disease trends; the Air Force Weather Agency; and medical alerts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from ProMed, an electronic system that reports outbreaks of infectious diseases and toxins.

The second phase will provide the ability to view data from the National Center for Medical Intelligence and the Deployed Theater Accountability Software, a military system that tracks the location of deployed soldiers.

“If there were a chemical spill in an identified geographical area, MSAT would be used by the area combatant commander to identify what troops are in the area and what medical assets are present there,” Beckner said. “Commanders may want to move medical units around based on need.”

MSAT users can highlight a relevant area on a map to see a graphical display of the requested information. The system can also display medical anomalies — for example, facilities that have treated unusually large numbers of patients with flu-like symptoms.

“In August, we expect to have a group of 10 users in San Antonio run through scenarios to evaluate the military utility of the system,” Beckner said.

After that, DHIMS will manage a transition year during which the MSAT prototype will be moved to a production environment. Beckner expects MSAT to be released for general use in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010.

At that point, the Web-based application will be accessible via the military’s Secret IP Router Network.