The IHS Health Information Technology Modernization Program

Welcome to the Indian Health Service (IHS) Health Information Technology (IT) Modernization Program website. The purpose of these pages is to provide timely information about the IHS plans and progress for modernizing our Health IT systems. These include the electronic health record (EHR) and all of the other systems that medical staff and patients use any time health care services are provided.

All IHS federal facilities, and many tribes and urban Indian organizations (UIOs) use the Resource and Patient Management System (RPMS), which handles everything from patient registration to insurance billing. It also includes the EHR, which is a patient’s medical record. A lot of work goes into keeping RPMS up to date for medical practice, as well as with the various laws and regulations about health care services, billing, information security, and patient privacy. 

Technology moves fast, and health IT is no exception. In recent years the IHS studied the best options to keep pace with change in this area. This analysis included consultation with tribes and conferring with UIOs. In 2021, the IHS published a decision [PDF] that announced it would fully replace the RPMS with commercially available solutions, including a new EHR. That decision began the work now called the IHS Health IT Modernization Program.

Check the following pages to get more information about the IHS Health IT Modernization Program

• The Past: What Led to the Decision to Modernize
• The Future: What Modernized Health IT Will Look Like
• The Status: What Has Been Done for the Modernization
• The FAQs: Questions and Answers about the Modernization