The Defense Health Agency Stands Up

Let’s think about logistic support. Those individuals form a community of practice have always been joint oriented, but it’s always been tough for them to get what was best for the enterprise, because the services wanted to do it but when they went back and they prioritized within the services, it may not have made the cut. And so not that we didn’t want to do it from an enterprise, but the services prioritized different.

But now with the logistics directorate, we prioritize as an enterprise we run it through governance, and we make a decision. So we now have very robust e-commerce. And there were different ways. Folks were using what we call the credit card method before, because it was convenient. But the problem was it’s more expensive to do it that way. So now we’ve made a more robust and more user-friendly and customer-friendly e-commerce. And so now we’re up to about 70% compliance, and we’re saving millions of dollars right there.

When you think about the Defense Logistics Agency, their job is to get the best price and product for the Department of Defense. So can you imagine before they were having to deal with the Army medicine, Navy medicine, and Air Force medicine. Now they’re dealing with the Defense Health Agency Logistics Directorate, so it’s a single point of contact. Now when we go out and do group buys, they can get a better deal for us. So what makes us look good makes them look good.…

DISA used to have to negotiate way ahead with Army, Navy, and Air Force medicine. Now they’re negotiating and looking at a joint force solution where it makes sense for the enterprise. That’s 2 examples right there, and it’s been exhilarating to watch. When you take the blinders off and you take the muzzle off, what our people can do if you give them the opportunity.

Working With the VA

Lt Gen Robb. I’m sure you’re aware that right now the Department of Defense and the VA have about 8.4 million shared records through what we would call a joint legacy viewer and enterprise. But what’s the future look like?

With the consolidation of the Health Information and Technology Directorate and then as we move forward with the acquisition of this new electronic health record, what our consolidated Health Information and Technology Directorate has done is created a single point of contact and a single entity for all things in relation to the new electronic health record.

Before, we had Army, Navy, and Air Force health information and technologies and it would have been… a lot harder to acquire something this large when you were dealing with 3 [systems]. Now we’re dealing with one entity. It is also the backbone and that’s where, what I would call, our academic center of gravity is and also our workhorses.

What is key for the interoperability between the Department of Defense and the VA as we transition the service member across is that the data flow from the Department of Defense to the Department of Veterans Affairs. We were handing over 3 different packages of data to the VA. Now we’re going to bring 1 package of data. So now the Department of Defense will have a single plug to go into the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs have been working very hard the last couple of years, quietly in the background. But we are working on standardized data elements. In other words, what I call the Department of Defense and the VA will speak the same language and the same dialect when it comes to moving data. You don’t have to have the same electronic health record.… You have to have the ability to move those common data elements through your system.

The standardization of the infrastructure has allowed us to roll out the electronic health record, which will be our backbone and then we’ll move that data to the VA electronic health record of the future…. Our people inside the Defense Health Agency have been working with all the teams with these infrastructure upgrades and the new electronic health records [requirements]. It’s working the data elements, it’s working the joint requirements. All these things are all coming together to support our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines as they move forward in the transition from the Department of Defense to the Department of Veterans Affairs.