“The Defense Department has restarted a monumental overhaul of its military health system after a months-long pause during the coronavirus pandemic.”
“Military health officials said Tuesday that they have resumed the transfer of management of all military medical facilities to the Defense Health Agency, with a goal of completing the transition by Sept. 30, 2021.”
“The Defense Health Agency also is proceeding with rollout of its MHS Genesis electronic health records system and consolidating health facilities and programs in certain regions into administrative markets. It is also supporting service reviews to determine the necessary mix of medical staff to support troops and beneficiaries, according to Thomas McCaffery, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.”
“The pandemic has proven that the military medical system works best when directed by a single entity rather than four separate commands, including the DHA and the medical commands of the Army, Navy and Air Force, McCaffery said Tuesday during the annual meeting of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, or AMSUS.”
“‘The pandemic experience has underscored the need for a consolidated enterprise management of our health care system,’ he said.”
“The health system overhaul was mandated by Congress in 2017. By law, the DoD is to shift management responsibilities of military hospitals and clinics to the DHA, while the services focus on providing health care to active-duty service members and training medical personnel for combat and deployment care.”
“As a result, the services are seeking to shed nearly 18,000 frontline health care workers and the DoD has targeted 50 military medical facilities for downsizing or closure.”
“At the same time, the DoD is introducing a new electronic health record system, MHS Genesis, to select installations…” Read the full article here.
Source: Defense Department Restarts Massive Military Health System Overhaul – By Patricia Kime, December 9, 2020. Military.com.
