title: The Recruit assessment Program: a program to collect comprehensive baseline health data from U.S. military personnel.
abstract: Pilot testing has begun on the Recruit Assessment Program (RAP). The RAP is a proposed Department of Defense (DoD) program for the routine collection of baseline demographic, medical, psychosocial, occupational, and health risk factor data from all U.S. military personnel at entry into the armed forces. The RAP currently uses an optically scannable paper questionnaire, which will provide data for the first building block of an electronic medical record within the DoD and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The RAP will serve several important functions, including automating enrollment into the military health care system, improving patient care and preventive medicine efforts, and providing critical data for investigations of health problems among military personnel and veterans. If the feasibility of the RAP is demonstrated and the program is fully implemented throughout the DoD, it could provide a substantial improvement in health care delivery. For the first time, DoD and Department of Veterans Affairs physicians, public health officers, and researchers will have access to comprehensive baseline health status data.
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA. hyamsk@mail.va.gov
authors.forename: Kenneth C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Hyams
authors.forename: Drue H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Duque
authors.forename: Charles C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Friedl
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.forename: Beverly
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hogan
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kaforski
authors.forename: Frances
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: North
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Riddle
authors.forename: Margaret A K
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Trump
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wells
mesh_terms: D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States