Skip main navigation

Military Health System

Hurricane Milton & Hurricane Helene

Emergency procedures are in place in multiple states due to Hurricane Milton & Hurricane Helene. >>Learn More

After Leading Through the Pandemic, TRICARE Pharmacy Chief Retires

Image of Curbside Pharma. At the start of the pandemic, a curbside pharmacy service was initially offered as an additional health protection measure to minimize foot traffic and help to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

At the start of the pandemic in 2020, Air Force Col. Markus Gmehlin faced a massive and urgent task: adapting the TRICARE Pharmacy system to ensure that everyone could get access to their medications – but to also avoid packing people into pharmacy waiting rooms and potentially further spreading the virus.

Gmehlin, the chief of TRICARE Pharmacy for the Defense Health Agency, said the top priority was safety.

"We wanted to have some good standard guidance to maintain staff and patient safety. That was first and foremost," he recalled.

The next challenge to address was how to continue providing the medication that beneficiaries need.

"We wanted to maintain access to care for all of our patients, especially for maintenance medications, like high cholesterol meds, heart medications — things that people need on an ongoing basis."

"We looked at the various military Medical Treatment Facilities to figure out who had the leading practices," he said.

Early in the pandemic, many of the military hospitals and clinics began offering drive-up and curbside pharmacy service. Beneficiaries called pharmacy personnel from outside the pharmacy, then the pharmacy personnel carried the medication out to the patient and offered curbside counseling.

That worked, in the sense that patients would never have to physically enter the pharmacy.

But Gmehlin said it was not a sustainable plan, due to safety concerns, temperature extremes, and weather conditions.

So Gmehlin and his team initiated a set of new pharmacy programs that have transformed the pharmacy system, including the "Q–Anywhere" and "ScriptCenters" programs. Those changes have proven to be highly successful and will likely remain permeant components of the pharmacy system.

Gmehlin is finishing a 30-year military medical career, with an official retirement date of June 1. In his final role, he led the delivery of a $10 billion annual pharmacy program across the Military Health System. And he worked with the Pentagon's Health Affairs team and DHA leadership, and often interacted with industry groups.

In a recent interview, he reflected on his time with DHA.

"If I have done anything, it's that we got the right team built to keep the program moving forward," he said.

"We've got some great folks," he said. "They understand that we just cannot maintain the status quo and that we need to constantly reevaluate our program to figure out how do we do it smarter, more efficiently, and how do we align with civilian or commercial best practices."

Q–Anywhere

"What we implemented was a remote pharmacy check-in capability," Gmehlin said. The process started in the fall of 2020, and is currently deployed at 50 military hospitals and clinics.

With Q-Anywhere, beneficiaries scan a QR code to activate processing of new prescriptions. The phone-based app prompts them to "get in line," by entering their Defense Department identification number, which activates their prescriptions. The beneficiary receives a confirmation text message. When the prescription is ready for pickup, another text message is sent. When beneficiaries arrive for pick up, they show pharmacy personnel the code on their phone.

"Huge reduction in people waiting around and it has been tremendous for customer satisfaction. Folks are thrilled," he said.

ScriptCenters

Also implemented during that timeframe in 2020 were the "ScriptCenters."

Gmehlin described this option as an "Amazon-type locker." Patients can choose this option, which allows them to scan their ID at the designated ScriptsCenter, wait for the assigned locker door to pop open, and then retrieve their medication out of the locker. There are 90 units at 76 different locations. Some locations have ScriptsCenters at the base or post exchange, or at another location inside the hospital.

Both Q-Anywhere and the Scripts Center required planning with the pharmacy operations division, which has four branches. One branch is the Informatics Integration Branch, which works all the information technology projects. When new COVID support funding became available, the team strategized on the tools and products that would be most useful.

"Then we worked with the service leadership and each of the MTFs to determine if they were interested or not interested," Gmehlin said.

Gmehlin hopes the long-term impact of his job is that people understand the good things that come out of the pharmacy program, what people are working on, and how they try to create a sustainable benefit, while at the same time increasing access to various medications.

"The neat thing is when the DHA journey started, there were three separate health systems: Army, Navy and Air Force. And everybody had a different way to do things, -- different outcomes, different everything. The exciting thing is working with the services to now unify three separate systems, or cultures into one, and incorporating the best that everybody brings. It has been great to see a single system that comes together to provide the best care."

"At the end of the day, it is about how do we provide best outcomes and health for our amazing beneficiaries."

You also may be interested in...

Report
Jan 1, 2015

MSMR Vol. 22 No. 7 - July 2015

.PDF | 1.21 MB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Epidemiology, microbiology, and antibiotic susceptibility patterns of skin and soft tissue infections, Joint Base San Antonio - Lackland, Texas, 2012-2014; Post-deployment screening and referral for risky ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 2 - February 2014

.PDF | 372.58 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Surveillance snapshot: male infertility, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2000-2012; Urinary tract infections, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2000-2013; Human T-lymphotropic virus infections in ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 11 - November 2014

.PDF | 549.40 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Transfusion-transmissible infections among U.S. military recipients of emergently transfused blood products, June 2006-December 2012; Evaluation of extragenital screening for gonorrhea and chlamydia in HIV ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 12 - December 2014

.PDF | 756.31 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Development and implementation of a cohort review for latent tuberculosis infection; Brief report: number of tuberculosis tests and diagnoses of latent tuberculosis infection in active component service ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 4 - April 2014

.PDF | 489.25 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Absolute and relative morbidity burdens attributable to various illnesses and injuries, U.S. Armed Forces, 2013; Hospitalizations among members of the active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2013; Ambulatory ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 9 - September 2014

.PDF | 409.66 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Fractures among active component, recruit trainees, and deployed service members, U.S. Armed Forces, 2003-2012; Diagnoses of eating disorders among active component service members, U.S. Armed Forces, 2004 ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 10 - October 2014

.PDF | 617.63 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Suicides and suicide attempts among active component members of the U.S. Armed Forces, 2010-2012: methods of self-harm vary by major geographic region of assignment; Risk of type II diabetes and hypertension ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 6 - June 2014

.PDF | 526.73 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Brief report: the geographic distribution of incident coccidioidomycosis among active component service members, 2000-2013; Brief report: mid-season influenza vaccine effectiveness estimates for the 2013-2014 ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 5 - May 2014

.PDF | 531.20 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Numbers and proportions of U.S. military members in treatment for mental disorders over time, active component, January 2000-September 2013; U.S. Armed Forces air crew: incident illness and injury diagnoses ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 7 - July 2014

.PDF | 634.01 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Sunburn among active component service members, U.S. Armed Forces, 2002-2013; Brief report: sunburn diagnoses while deployed in Southwest/Central Asia, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2008-2013; ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 8 - August 2014

.PDF | 551.02 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Spread of vaccinia virus through shaving during military training, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, TX, June 2014; Gynecologic disorders diagnosed during deployment to Southwest/Central Asia, active component ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 3 - March 2014

.PDF | 477.89 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Legionellosis in Military Health System beneficiaries, 1998-2013; Urinary tract infections during deployment, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2008-2013; Update: heat injuries, active component, U.S. ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 1 - January 2014

.PDF | 615.15 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Images in health surveillance: dengue and chikungunya virus vectors and prevention; Surveillance snapshot: self-reported malaria prophylaxis compliance among service members with diagnosed malaria, 2008-2013; ...

Skip subpage navigation
Refine your search
Last Updated: July 11, 2023
Follow us on Instagram Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on YouTube Sign up on GovDelivery