The recent headlines coming out of Walter Reed Army Medical Center have shocked the conscience of our nation. The health care process failed veterans in every way imaginable, from forcing hospitalized veterans to live in vermin-infested wards to requiring them to fill out reams of paperwork just to be seen by a doctor.

I can't suggest much to do about the rats, but I can offer advice for a long-term solution to make the entire military medical experience more streamlined and efficient, avoiding the long delays and the transmissions of inaccurate information, or no information at all, between departments causing vets to receive inadequate care or be denied care completely.

One problem the Walter Reed scandal demonstrates is the inefficiency of paper, especially when wounded vets are made to fill out paperwork the hospital depends on to locate their medical records from whatever obscure and diverse corners of the medical landscape they lay. The last thing a double-amputee veteran needs is to be told that he or she must write down their complete account of their injuries before they receive an iota of medical attention.

It puts the burden on the vet to guarantee his complete and accurate care. Not only is this inefficient, but it causes undue stress to the veterans, who probably won't remember their complete medical history when they are suffering in pain.

Besides, often important information is missed through this process; things fall through the cracks and move at an excruciating slow pace. Pages go missing. People forget if or when they were vaccinated. Vets get ignored or their treatment doesn't take into account their full medical histories, including severe allergies to medications and former injuries. Not to mention the possible inaccuracies that may occur when stressed out vets are asked to remember and write down pertinent medical information.

There is a better way.

In an Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system, all a veteran will need is his or her serial number. The rest will be taken care of by the medical staff. Every member of the medical community will have instant access to a patient's entire medical history at the touch of a finger. Not only can an EMR help doctors easily and instantly see a patient's medical history, but a well-designed system will connect each of the patient's doctors to every aspect of the medical treatment, allowing doctors to prescribe medication, tests, surgeries and therapies instantly.

EMRs have been in use for years in the mainstream medical industry in the United States, with some systems working better than others. Some of the big problems with many current systems is how they are not streamlined from one medical area to another, from the doctor's office to the pharmacy.

The medical process in the military is even more complicated. Although the military is currently using an electronic health records system of its own, it is flawed. The current system is costly and has been ineffective in cutting out paper work and following the soldiers throughout the health system. Obviously, the military medical leadership doesn't feel confident enough in its own system to cut out paper records. That's because the system they bought is outdated. They need to upgrade to a new EMR that employs state-of-the-art technology.

A modern EMR would streamline a soldier's medical experience when he moves from the United States to Iraq and back, when his medical state fluctuates from extremes of health to extremes of bodily destruction. One soldier will be a patient in many diverse arenas of medical care from dramatic emergency medical procedures to agonizingly slow recovery of physical and psychological trauma.

To make a soldier's medical experience work efficiently, there is no need to merge already large military medical institutions into one gigantic bureaucratic nightmare.  We just need a single records system that connects all of the possible medical institutions a soldier could pass through during his medical recovery. A single EMR system could allow, say, a psychologist to instantly see a complete medical history report on a veteran and prescribe treatment accordingly. No paperwork necessary.

There are numerous choices for EMR systems out there because of the demands of the HIPPA law requiring the digitizing of all medical records in the United States, which has sparked a flurry of EMR invention and innovation.

The federal government ordered the digitizing of patient records because digital records are superior to paper and can save lives, money and time. No more fatal allergic reactions to drugs prescribed because a patient forgot to tell a doctor about sensitivities to medications. No more wasting time waiting for medical charts to be copied and mailed. Why is it that EMRs are good for civilians but not used for the very people who give their lives and limbs for the rest of us?

The unfortunate situation at Walter Reed — and at military medical centers around the country — made me think of how much has changed for the worse for vets. Back in the 1950s, music great Irving Berlin wrote a song for all the World War II veterans who were making their way back into the civilian world: "There's a lot to be said for the Army / The best of doctors watched you carefully../ Oh gee, I wish I was back in the Army."

Veterans today still might have the best doctors caring for them, but substandard recordkeeping is preventing those doctors from giving the veterans the best quality of care. What happened at Walter Reed should never have happened in the 21st century. The technology is here and systems have been designed, tested and implemented in hospitals around the country. It's time the military brass woke up and bought a new computer.

Lipscher is an emergency room physician in Austin and the CEO of Catalis Inc., an electronic medical records device company.