Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan talks to
staff at Womack Army Medical Center, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, July 26, 2018.
Shanahan met with military health officials to discuss Army medical readiness,
as well as the transfer of administration and management of military medical
treatment facilities to the Defense Health Agency beginning Oct. 1, 2018. (DoD
photo by Lisa Ferdinando)
Supporting National Defense Strategy
The transition of the administration and management of the military medical treatment facilities, Shanahan explained, will increase readiness and patient care, as well as focus on affordability. It supports two lines of effort in the National Defense Strategy: increasing lethality and reforming the department for greater performance and affordability, he said.
For example, with DHA taking on those responsibilities, the military services can better attend to the medical readiness of their members.
The best practices of DHA will help boost productivity and morale, the secretary said, explaining a further benefit is the cost and security aspect of being under one DoD agency.
Discussions on Medical Readiness
Shanahan said the topics of discussion at Womack included Army medical readiness, and how to fill any gaps in order to generate a higher state of readiness. He said they also discussed the deployments of medical professionals, and balancing the needs of the service with the needs of the medical facilities where the professionals are stationed.
Participants in the Womack meeting included: Navy Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, the DHA director; Robert Wilkie, the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs; Thomas McCaffery, the acting assistant secretary of defense for health affairs; Army Lt. Gen. Nadja West, the Army’s Surgeon General; Army Lt. Gen. Paul LaCamera, commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg; Army Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of U.S. Army Forces Command, Fort Bragg; and Army Col. John Melton, commander of the Womack Army Medical Center.
Shanahan said the Womack talks will be followed up in six weeks with a meeting on the status of the transition, to include topics of procurement, and the workflow in implementing the new electronic health records system.
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