Medical Leaders Provide Update on DOD's Health Care Focus

All service members and their families deserve quality care, better access to treatment centers, health care providers and mental and physical well-being, said Army Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland, director of the Defense Health Agency.

Crosland spoke on the panel "Transforming Combat Ready Care" today at the Association of the United States Army's annual meeting and exposition in Washington.

A secure video system for providers to meet virtually with their patients is being piloted and rolled out, she said.

When Fort Moore, Georgia, was devastated by Hurricane Helene, the medical providers conducted about 600 virtual appointments, as travel to medical treatment facilities was often precarious, Crosland said.

Simplifying the hiring process to employ quality medical providers is a priority. Her team is looking at eliminating processes and policies that slow the hiring process and make it more complicated.

It will take a multifaceted approach to achieve this, she said. For example, making better use of technology like taking fingerprints from home instead of having the applicant travel to a processing location and centralizing processes to reduce a lot of variation between locations.

"A lot is on us. I'm not a fan of the bureaucratic process," she said.

There's also future potential for wearing health monitoring devices that can feed useful data to providers and improve wellness. But doing that requires a thoughtful and deliberate approach, Crosland said.

Army Lt. Gen. Mary K. Izaguirre, surgeon general and commander of the Army Medical Command, who also spoke on the panel, said her top priority is ensuring troops and medical providers, such as combat medics, are ready for the rigors of warfare.

Sustainment health is also important - ensuring that troops and their families stay healthy, she said, means verifying that soldiers and families have access to health and wellness centers on installations.

"I'm a big believer in prevention," Izaguirre said, noting that after medical school, she wasn't in great shape and credited the Army for helping her to achieve her fitness and health goals.

The Army is also focused on retaining its health care workforce, she said. Part of that is investing time and money in quality training and the other part is having a culture where people want to be because they feel supported and valued and can operate at the top of their game, she said.