Advancing Federal Sector Health Care: A Model for Technology Transfer (Health Informatics Book 49)

As a result of severe wounds received in World War II, I have spent many months in military hospitals, including 20 months in an Army hospital immediately after the war. I continue to use the Military Health System, as do many of my colleagues in Congress, because I firmly believe the quality of health care delivered in military and veterans hospitals is second to none. The largest system of its type in the world, the U.S. military healthcare system is undergoing changes as dramatic as those experienced by the entire country. During Desert Storm, we saw new technologies, such as telemedicine, at work in the field. Since then, military medicine has contin­ ued to imprave and develop innovations that often focus on healthcare issues of concern to society as a whole. We already have seen technology transfer at work. Things we use in our everyday lives, from sunscreen to the Internet, have come to us directly from innovations developed by federal researchers. The private sector, working with the public agencies, has creatively adapted federal research. For example, the hemopump is used successfully by heart surgeons world­ wide to save heart patients. This device, developed by Richard Wampler, was based on satellite technology information that was declassified in the early 1980s. The chapters in this book focus on current federal sector efforts to shape health care and technology transfer. Many of the initiatives described involve some degree of partnering between the public and private sectors. Front Matter....Pages i-1 Front Matter....Pages 2-4 The Longer View: Moving Toward Population Health in the Federal Sector....Pages 5-16 The Future of U.S. Military Health Care....Pages 17-27 Federal Support for Healthcare Information Systems....Pages 28-39 Enhancing Private Biomedical Technology: The Role of Federal Programs....Pages 40-51 The Parthenon Strategy in Military Medicine....Pages 52-62 Alignment in a Large Enterprise: Department of Defense Military Health System....Pages 63-78 Reengineering the Veterans Healthcare System....Pages 79-96 Shaping Future Healthcare Professionals....Pages 97-116 Optimizing the Military Healthcare System....Pages 117-139 Front Matter....Pages 140-141 Building the Knowledge-Enabled Organization: Beyond IT Infrastructures to IM Infostructures....Pages 143-155 Assessing and Achieving Value in Information Technology....Pages 156-169 Improving Provider Performance: An Integrated Approach and Case Study on Privileging and Credentialing....Pages 170-182 Cost Containment: A New Approach and a VA Case Study....Pages 183-198 Process-Oriented Strategic Information Management Planning....Pages 199-216 Data Quality Case Study....Pages 217-235 Resource Allocation Dilemmas in Large Federal Healthcare Systems....Pages 236-259 Front Matter....Pages 260-261 Infrastructure and Architecture....Pages 263-286 The Future of GCPR: A Hybrid Approach....Pages 287-302 Force Health Protection Through Global Medical Surveillance....Pages 303-315 Global Expeditionary Medical Surveillance (GEMS) Support of Domestic Preparedness....Pages 316-324 Front Matter....Pages 260-261 Eliminating Disparities in Minority Health....Pages 325-337 Telehealth....Pages 338-350 E-Health: Future Implications....Pages 351-371 Back Matter....Pages 373-397 This book focuses on current federal sector efforts to shape healthcare, i.e., to improve performance while containing costs. The solutions offered include redesigning processes and, where appropriate, the use of enabling technologies to do so. Since historically, innovations in the federal sector have often migrated to and profoundly changed practices in the private sector, many of the initiatives described involve some degree of partnering between the public and private sector. Others represent work in the federal sector that address the same problems confronted in the private sector and offer valuable and transferable solutions and approaches. The major strength of this book is its use of concrete examples that show how process redesign and the integration of enabling technologies have led to performance improvement and cost reduction in the largest healthcare system in the world. The contributors--all acknowledged experts in their fields--draw upon their knowledge of the healthcare industry and their expertise in working within and with the federal sector health system. They focus on exciting changes and improvements, and they elaborate on strategies for the future that will reshape federal sector healthcare. The book does not intend to give "correct answers," but to demonstrate mature thinking in shaping healthcare in general. In the years ahead, engineering healthcare to meet the demands of newly knowledgeable consumers will be critical. In addition to giving insights into what the federal sector leadership is doing to address the challenges of population health, each chapter will highlight the perspective of employers, payers, and deliverers of health services

This book focuses on todays attempts to reshape the federal healthcare system. The major strength of the text lies in its use of examples that show how process redesign and the integration of enabling technologies lead to performance improvement and cost reduction. The contributors draw upon their knowledge and experience of the federal healthcare industry. Rather than intending to provide readers with the correct answers the authors map out the various new approaches.

The book contains black-and-white illustrations.

This book focuses on current federal sector efforts to shape healthcare; i.e., to improve performance while containing costs. The solutions offered include redesigning processes and, where appropriate, the use of enabling technologies to do so. The major strength of this book is its use of concrete examples that show how process redesign and the integration of enabling technologies have led to performance improvement and cost reduction in the largest healthcare system in the world. The focus is on exciting changes and improvements, and strategies for the future that will reshape federal sector healthcare and how these approaches transfer effectively to the private healthcare sector.