A Defense Department database of military health system patients diagnosed with COVID-19 is incomplete and inaccurate, shortcomings that make it ineffective for steering medical treatment or public health decisions on the illness, the Pentagon's top watchdog has found.
A DoD inspector general report released this month found that the department's COVID-19 registry did not contain roughly 7,200 patients who qualified for inclusion and there were errors in 24 of 25 records reviewed by inspectors.
The issues raise questions about the database's overall accuracy, which was supposed to be right for at least 90% of the records, according to its contract, said Carol Gorman, the assistant DoD inspector general for audit, cyberspace operations and acquisition, contracting and sustainment.
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Since last year, lawmakers have raised concerns over the accuracy of DoD medical databases and registries, including the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database, or DMED, a data set that includes current and historical data on patient health conditions, hospitalizations and medical events of service members.
Last week, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin over discrepancies in the numbers reported to his office for 15 illnesses or conditions. Johnson said a whistleblower has questioned the accuracy of DoD data, and the…
