Skip to main content

Military Health System

Test of Sitewide Banner

This is a test of the sitewide banner capability. In the case of an emergency, site visitors would be able to visit the news page for addition information.

MHS’s four tips for patient-centered digital health

Image of Picture of Robert Ciulla with the words "Four Tips for Patient-Center Digital Health". Robert Ciulla, PhD, provides tips on how health care providers and patients can adjust to digital health (Photo by: DHA’s Connected Health).

Digital health and the move to patient-centered care: both accelerated across the Military Health System throughout 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As MHS providers, we must include these two now-essential care delivery elements in our plans during COVID-19 and post-pandemic. Whatever the future has in store, the best way to face it is by creating a care system – both individuals and technology – that enables each patient to connect with their care anytime and anywhere, thereby improving overall health and military readiness.

The MHS is taking the lead at the enterprise level by expanding existing digital health systems and partnerships and rolling out new ones. We must understand where our patients are coming from, meet them where they are, and put them at the center of everything we do. We also must ensure that the technology, strategy, policies, and guidance we put in place support an effective, seamless partnership with each patient to get the most out of their care.

To build better patient-centered partnerships for digital health, here are four tips:

Be ready to combine multiple different digital health technology platforms

COVID-19 response has thrust many providers into a crash course in the massive variety of MHS digital health platforms: the electronic health record; virtual health that delivers real-time care via telephone or video; eHealth through web-based systems; mobile health apps; texting; email; and social media. Blended use cases may combine digital health platforms across treatment encounters: video conference + text messaging, email + internet-based learning modules, telephone + remote home surveillance via wearables, and so forth.

Be both a learner and a teacher

Because using health technologies in combinations will become the norm, more than ever we have the responsibility to thoroughly understand and trust digital health tools. As part of learning about digital health platforms, seek out digital health tools developed by trustworthy sources. For example, the Defense Health Agency offers a wide variety of free apps, websites, and podcasts grounded in clinical research and vetted to ensure quality and safety.

We also should view partnering with our patients as an essential part of effective care. However, we cannot automatically assume that patients are ready for or conversant with these technologies. Even if they are knowledgeable about the technology itself, they may not know how to apply it to their medical care.

Maintain open and respectful communication

While digital health has changed the medical landscape, the essential characteristics of health care remain the same whether that care is supported by technologies or not: a thorough evaluation, attention to patient engagement, and interventions that are evidenced-based.

Be aware if a patient has the misperception that using digital health technology means a greater focus on technology than on communication. Providers can discuss this topic directly, conveying that a seasoned clinician can attend to both the patient and the technology concurrently and when that is not possible, will set aside the technology to ensure active listening.

The skyrocketing popularity of digital health capabilities with providers and patients alike means that this multimodal melting pot of technologies will be foundational to health care delivery going forward. Providing the best care in this environment requires providers to be familiar with all platforms and thoroughly knowledgeable about the ones they use most often. This breadth of knowledge will augment providers' ability to combine platforms in ways tailored to the needs of each patient and quickly adapt to equipment or connectivity issues. Getting a head start on these skills will enable us and our patients to take best advantage of currently available solutions as well as those to come.

Open exchange of information

Finally, the distance involved in video and social media platforms may encourage a more open exchange than an office professional setting would bring. Make sure to monitor and maintain boundaries. You should also discuss informed consent when using health technology, as well as minimize privacy concerns by showing patients your office during virtual visits to demonstrate that no one else is present.

You also may be interested in...

Effective Health IT Reduces Burnout, Improves Patient Care

Article
5/25/2023
Effective Health IT Reduces Burnout, Improves Patient Care

Information technology and its intersection with military health care was at the forefront of a key discussion at the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference, held in Chicago, Illinois, from April 17 to 21.

DHA Senior Leader: ‘Virtual First’ is the Future of Military Health System

Article
5/25/2023
DHA Senior Leader: ‘Virtual First’ is the Future of Military Health System

The Military Health System needs to invest in culture change to truly put the patient first.

Imaging Specialists Look Beyond the Skin

Article Around MHS
5/10/2023
U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Leila Liza Smith, a diagnostic imaging specialist with the 6th Medical Group, practices abdominal ultrasound procedures at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, on ct. 25, 2022. Smith evaluates the images produced by the ultrasound for abnormalities, such as lumps or nodules on the thyroid gland. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Lauren Cobin)

Diagnostic imaging specialists are medical professionals that use imaging equipment and soundwaves to form images of many parts of the body, known as ultrasounds. They are trained to acquire and analyze these sonographic images so that doctors can diagnose and treat many medical conditions.

Defense Occupational and Environmental Health Readiness System – Hearing Conservation (DOEHRS-HC)

Fact Sheet
5/8/2023

The Defense Occupational and Environmental Health Readiness System – Hearing Conservation (DOEHRS-HC) is an information system designed to support personal auditory readiness and help prevent hearing loss through early detection.

Department of Defense Investing in Wearable Technology That Could Rapidly Predict Disease

Article Around MHS
5/8/2023
U.S. Air Force Airman Katiha Falcon wears a watch at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, on Dec. 3, 2020. The wearable technology is part of a study with the Defense Innovation Unit that will allow detection of illnesses such as COVID-19 within 48 hours. (Photo by Cynthia Griggs, U.S. Air Force)

The Defense Innovation Unit, in partnership with the private sector, has developed a wearable device that was highly successful during the COVID-19 pandemic in identifying infections.

Lab Professionals Play Key Role in Public Health and Patient Care

Article
5/2/2023
Lab Professionals Play Key Role in Public Health and Patient Care

Lab professionals provide value to the MHS and DHA communities.

Crosland Discusses Dawn of Digital Health at HIMSS 2023

Article
4/28/2023
Crosland Discusses Dawn of Digital Health at HIMSS 2023

“My priorities as a combat support agency are about health of the force, and the redesign of our health care system is about health of our patient,” said U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Crosland. “And as an agency, it's about health of our people.”

Blanchfield Army Community Hospital ICU joins DHA’s Joint Tele-Critical Care Network

Article Around MHS
4/18/2023
Blanchfield Army Community Hospital Intensive Care Unit Chief Nurse U.S. Army Maj. Brenda Mitchell preforms a communication check with a nurse at the Defense Health Agency Virtual Medical Operations Center at Naval Medical Center San Diego, California, using the Joint Tele-Critical Care Network, on March 27. (Photo by Justin Moeller, Blanchefield Army Community Hospital

Blanchfield Army Community Hospital is the latest military hospital or clinic in the Military Health System to join the Defense Health Agency’s Joint Tele-Critical Care Network. The JTCCN virtually integrates 24/7 access to highly skilled critical care physicians, or intensivists, from DHA medical centers, or hubs like Naval Medical Center San Diego and Brooke Army Medical Center, with satellite intensive care units at nearly 20 military hospitals or clinics worldwide.

Like a Cable Boss: Connecting Medical Technology

Article Around MHS
4/12/2023
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Andrea President, a medical information service systems technician, 379th EMDSS, demonstrates using a cable testing device at the 379th EMDG radiology lab at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. (Photo by U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Bayard Lewis)

Inspecting and connecting tiny wires may seem like a small task, but it’s one that has a big effect on medical care that military patients receive in deployed locations like Qatar.

5 Reasons to Download MyCare Overseas App

Article
4/6/2023
5 Reasons to Download MyCare Overseas App

If you live overseas, the MyCare Overseas app makes it easy to manage your health care at home and on the go.

Brooke Army Medical Center Interventional Radiology Offers Less-Invasive Option for Patients with Disc Degeneration

Article Around MHS
3/21/2023
U.S. Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Matthew Taon, interventional radiologist, demonstrates a minimally invasive image guided procedure at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. (Photo by Jason W. Edwards, Brooke Army Medical Center)

You may not have to go "under the knife" to ease debilitating back issues, thanks to a new technology. Find out how surgeons at Brooke Army Medical Center are relieving patients from pain where surgery was once the only option.

Belvoir Hospital Reaches Milestone with Robotic-Assisted Joint Replacement Surgery

Article Around MHS
3/20/2023
Fort Belvoir Community Hospital is the first military hospital in the Defense Health Agency to employ this robotic-assisted platform, and the cutting-edge technology provides the joint replacement surgeons an unparalleled amount of real-time surgical data.  (Photo by Reese Brown, Fort Belvoir Community Hospital)

Would you trust your surgical procedure to a robot? See the cutting-edge technology that's taking Belvoir Hospital's joint replacement surgery into a new era.

DHA Supports National Guard and Reserve Deployment Health Needs

Article
2/27/2023
U.S. Navy Chief Information Systems Technician Caleb Korrell, from Cheyenne Wells, Colorado, has his blood drawn by U,S, Navy Hospitalman Jaysean Sales, from Los Angeles, during a physical health assessment rodeo in the hangar bay on Sept. 23, 2022. The Reserve Health Readiness Program helps maintain readiness and satisfy key deployment requirements by providing medical and dental services to all National Guard, Reserve and active duty service members. (Photo by U.S. Navy Spec. 2nd Class Zack Guth)

The Reserve Health Readiness Program (RHRP) helps supplement the reserve component’s readiness mission and satisfy key deployment requirements by providing medical and dental services to all reserve components and active duty members serving in remote locations.

DHA Director: Technology Helps to “Meet the Patients Where They Are”

Article
2/17/2023
DHA Director Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland speaking at a podium

DHA Director Lt. Gen. Crosland discussed her priorities and the burgeoning role of technology at DHA and within the wider MHS.

Genome Sequencing Work at U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine

Article
2/16/2023
Military personnel posing by Wright-Patterson AFB sign

U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine technicians and scientists working in Military Health System laboratories helped to identify COVID-19 variants using special sequencing technology.

Page 1 of 17 , showing items 1 - 15
First < 1 2 3 4 5  ... > Last 
Refine your search
Last Updated: January 17, 2023
Follow us on Instagram Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on YouTube Sign up on GovDelivery