“Several top Defense Department and Defense Health Agency officials emphasized that Congress needs to continue supporting DHA’s momentum in establishing new military treatment facility markets and initiating waves of MHS GENESIS implementation at a House Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday.”
“Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Thomas McCaffery proposed to the committee a $33.1 billion budget for the Defense Health Program in fiscal year 2021, marking a $1 billion increase from FY2020. The proposed budget, McCaffery said, will help maintain a number of efforts DHA and DOD as a whole are making to drive efficiencies into their operations and to improve care.”
“’Some of the significant reforms are the following: consolidated administration and management of our military hospitals and clinics under the … Defense Health Agency, rightsizing our military medical infrastructure to focus on readiness within our direct care system and finally optimizing the size and composition of the military medical force to best meet our readiness mission,’ McCaffery said, emphasizing that deploying the joint electronic health record — MHS GENESIS — and advancing research are key drivers behind these initiatives.”
“Consolidation has also been a key driver across the Military Health System this past year. DHA absorbed all medical administrative and management responsibilities of the individual service branches in October, launched four markets to deliver more tightly run care early this year and has advanced in MHS GENESIS deployment through Wave Travis in September and soon with Wave Nellis this summer…”
“Committee members were critical of DHA’s activities, questioning why it needs more budgeting money when the agency had yet to achieve its results. The Army and Air Force surgeon generals, however, emphasized that DHA is in a moment of transition — and that successful transition is critical for achieving successes and maintaining stable care for military health beneficiaries…” Read the full article here.
Source: Defense Health Officials Tout Consolidation Successes in Budget Hearing – By Melissa Harris, March 6, 2020. GovernmentCIO.
