The Defense Health Agency announced an effort to merge the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs’ healthcare systems is in the “strategy development stage,” Bloomberg Government reported Monday. Pat Murray, deputy director of the National Legislative Service for Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the DoD VA Health Care Staffing Services initiative will help the VA provide timely health services to veterans.
Read More »DHS Helping FDA Cyber Secure Medical Devices
The Department of Homeland Security is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to protect connected medical devices from emerging cyber threats, Federal News Network reported Thursday. In October, DHS began using the medical device security playbook the FDA issued to guide the government and industry in protecting such technologies.
Read More »GAO: DoD Failing to Properly Assess, Deploy Military Medical Personnel
The Government Accountability Office has released a report highlighting the Defense Department’s failure to properly assess and assign its over 241,000 medical personnel to military treatment facilities, which led to workforce challenges and poor patient care.
Defense Health Agency Assumes Responsibility Over Military Medical Facilities
The Defense Health Agency has taken over the policies and processes of various military hospitals and clinics as part of a phased program to reorganize military healthcare facilities.
The agency has started managing medical facilities in military installations such as at Fort Bragg, N.C., Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., and Joint Base Charleston, S.C., the U.S. Air Force said Friday.
Vice Adm. Raquel Bono: Military Health System to Use Feedback for EHR Tech Improvement
U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, director of the Defense Health Agency, has said the Military Health System will use feedback from users to adjust technical features of the Defense Department‘s new electronic health records platform, DoD News reported Thursday. Bono, a two-time Wash100 awardee, added she expects military patients, lawmakers, …
Read More »Rep. Mac Thornberry’s DoD Reform Bill Seeks to Help Department Save at Least $25B
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) has proposed a bill that aims to eliminate seven agencies within the Defense Department in an effort to achieve over $25 billion in savings, Federal News Radio reported Tuesday. “All of the savings and efficiency have to stay within DoD to get more capability …
Read More »Navy Rear Adm. Mary Riggs Assigned as Defense Health Agency R&D Director
Rear Adm. Mary Riggs, commander of the U.S. Navy‘s Reserve Component Expeditionary Medicine, has been assigned as director of research and development at the Defense Health Agency. Navy Secretary Richard Spencer and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson announced Riggs’ new assignment in a Defense Department press release published Thursday. …
Read More »Pentagon to Implement Changes to Tricare System in 2018 Under Interim Final Rule
The Defense Department has introduced the interim final rule that will implement changes to the Tricare military health care program on Jan. 1, DoD News reported Thursday. Navy Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, director of the Defense Health Agency, said DHA will transition the Tricare program’s administration to calendar year from fiscal …
Read More »OMB Recommends HHS Use DLA-DHA Military Medical Electronics Catalog
The Office of Management and Budget has recommended the Department of Health and Human Services use an electronic catalog for military medical materials compiled by the Defense Health Agency and Defense Logistics Agency. DLA said Wednesday ECAT is an online system designed to allow customers to browse, compare and purchase medical supplies, such as pharmaceutical, …
Read More »Karen Guice: Military Health System on New Trajectory
Karen Guice, outgoing acting assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, believes the past five years have set a new trajectory for the Military Health System, DoD News reported Friday. Amaani Lyle writes Guice weighed in on the state of MHS during her five-and-a-half-year tenure at the Defense Department as she prepares …
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