“The leaders of the military services are calling on the Defense Department to reverse an ongoing plan that transitions control of hospitals and clinics from the military branches to the centralized Defense Health Agency.”
“The top service officials and secretaries of each military service signed an Aug. 5 memo that states the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed issues with the transfer of military treatment facilities (MTFs) to DHA.”
“Synopsis, a newsletter, first reported news of the memo.”
“The DHA end-state, as designed, introduces barriers, creates unnecessary complexity and increases inefficiencies and cost,” the military officials wrote. “Service command and control of the MTFs as military units, through our direct support, was critical to commanders’ operational response [to coronavirus] and swiftly adjusting resources across the enterprise.”
“The letter asks DoD to stop the transition of MTFs, personnel and resources, and to return all MTFs to their respective services until the best course of action can be determined…”
“Sean W. Kelley, former deputy chief information officer for account management and benefits at the Department of Veterans Affairs, said he was surprised by the memo because it may mean there are more issues with the transition than what is seen publicly.”
“The transition is a huge paradigm shift for the services,” Kelley said. “It’s been going on since 2011 when Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed came together. However, there are benefits in centralization and command and control with seamless integration with DHA…” Read the full article here.
Source: Military services call for halt in transition of hospitals to DHA – By Scott Maucione, August 11, 2020. Federal News Network.
