Last month, the Defense Department submitted the third and final report to Congress outlining the implementation plans for the new governance of the Military Health System. The report covered the establishment of the major health policy-making bodies within the Military Health System and reiterated the system’s overarching objectives, as well as the goals and organizational alignment of the shared services in the Defense Health Agency. This report also focused on the six shared services not addressed in the June 2013 report, and updated Congress on the progress made and new targets created since the Military Health System prior report.
To meet these expectations, a path forward in creating a new set of performance measures being evaluated by senior leadership and targeted was outlined for release early in 2014.
The report also detailed the milestones achieved in standing up the enhanced Multi-Service Markets across the country. Each market has developed and submitted plans that are focused on improving the coordination and synchronization of services in six military communities – the National Capital Region; Tidewater, Va.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Puget Sound, Wash.; San Antonio and Honolulu.
The report laid out the purpose, savings and structure of six out of the ten shared services: Pharmacy, Medical Education and Training, Medical Research and Development, Budget and Resource Management, Contracting and Public Health. The other four shared services – Medical Logistics, Health Information Technology, Health Facilities and the TRICARE Health Plan – were addressed in the previous report.
The department is expected to generate savings in the billions of dollars over the first five years as a result of these reforms. And these reforms are aligned with the four strategic aims for the Military Health System – ensure readiness, better health, better care and lower costs.
These reports to Congress, required by the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, have provided both the Congress and DOD leaders with the foundational principles, the organizational models, the business case analyses, and the plans to monitor performance of the shared services following implementation.
The standup of the Defense Health Agency has been one of the most significant reforms to military medicine in the history of the department, and provides the structure by which the department can build upon the joint successes attained in theater and bring similar approaches to enhancing the value of military medicine to all beneficiaries.