us army: integration%20update%20sept%202006%20(pdf)

8/14/2019 US Army: Integration%20Update%20Sept%202006%20(PDF)

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BRACand

Integration

National Capital area

2006 - 2007



TRICARE - Advertising Supplement 2

The Washington, D.C. area is transformingits military treatment facilities into an inte-grated top quality healthcare system.Integration and inter-operability are the keywords!

Leadership envisions a tri-service world-wide military referral center at the newnational medical center in Bethesda to openin 2011 when National Naval Medical Centerand Walter Reed Army Medical Centermerge. With the other military treatment facil-ities in the area, the medical center will serveas a premier academic medical systemfocused on delivering the highest qualitycare, distinguished health professional educa-tion, and exemplary clinical and transnationalresearch.

BRAC 2005 has set an end date to the trans-formation, but movement towards integra-tion started over ten years ago. Integration isvital to resource management due to budgetand staff concerns. Moreover, integrationmakes sense in the Washington area where all

ment of the National Capital Consortium fortraining military doctors, nurses, and techni-cians, the three medical centers – NationalNaval, Walter Reed, and Malcolm Grow --

began slowly to combine their strengths and

assets. Now, these efforts will increase andadhere to a strict timeline imposed by BRAC.

In addition, DeWitt Army CommunityHospital will be enlarged to better serve thegrowing population of military families inNorthern Virginia, and many Walter Reedmedical services will open clinics there.Interns, residents, and fellows from all serviceaffiliations will rotate at DeWitt, and perma-nent staff will include Navy and Air Forceclinical personnel.

The Uniformed Services University of theHealth Sciences already located on Bethesda’scampus is another important new player inthe intensified integration efforts. Graduatemedical education and research will be cen-trally managed at the university, and will

On May 13, 2005, the Department of Defense announced itsrecommendations for the latest round of Base Realignmentsand Closures. Significant changes were suggested for militarymedicine in the Washington, D.C. area. These changes werereviewed, discussed, and ultimately approved by Congressand the President in November 2005. Changes are to beimplemented by September 2011.

The most visible change will be in the number of inpatient

medical facilities in the area. There are four currently in use –National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland; WalterReed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.; Malcolm

Grow Medical Center at Andrews Air Force Base inMaryland; and DeWitt Army Community Hospital at FortBelvoir in Northern Virginia.

These facilities will merge into two hospitals, both staffed by Army, Navy and Air Force personnel.• National Naval and Walter Reed will become the newWalter Reed National Military Medical Center on theBethesda campus.• Malcolm Grow will do outpatient care only at its currentlocation.• DeWitt will be enlarged on Fort Belvoir, and many WalterReed clinical services will open there.• Research, education, and training will be centered on the

Bethesda campus with students rotating at DeWitt as themajor satellite teaching hospital and at Malcolm Grow for out-patient experience.• The post in the District, known as Walter Reed ArmyMedical Center Installation, will close when all componentshave moved in September 2011.

Other changes include:• Armed Forces Medical Examiner, DNA Registry, andAccident Investigation will relocate to Dover Air Force Base,Delaware.• Enlisted histology technician training will relocate to Fort

Sam Houston, Texas.• Combat Casualty Care Research at the Walter Reed ArmyInstitute of Research and the Naval Medical Research Centerwill move to Fort Sam Houston, Texas.• Medical Biological Defense Research now at Walter ReedArmy Institute of Research and Naval Medical Research

Center will consolidate with the US Army Medical RInstitute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Marylan• Medical Chemical Defense Research at the WalteArmy Institute of Research will consolidate with the UMedical Research Institute of Chemical Defense at AbProving Ground.

BRAC comes to Washington, D.C.

One Integrated World-Class Healthcare System

Photo by Thomas Balfour, Uniformed Services U

Plans for integrating military healthcare in the Washington, D.C. area are moving swiftly foPrior to BRAC 2005, integration had already taken place in Graduate Medical Education, and tht i i t ffi i li i i ll t N ti l N l M di l C t M l l G

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2006 TRICARE - Advertising Supplement Pa

A lot is happening with integra-tion efforts, but patients may notnotice because it is mostly behind-the-scenes planning. If you lookaround the next time you are atWalter Reed Army Medical Center,National Naval Medical Center or

Malcolm Grow Medical Center, youmay notice an increase in the diver-sity of uniforms. Integration of ser-vices.... These are the key wordsand actions.

Important to you, the patients, isthat there are no changes in cliniclocations at this time. Walter Reedis open at its same Georgia AvenueNorthwest location, and for thetime being will remain fully opera-tional for outpatient and inpatientcare. The same goes for NationalNaval in Bethesda and MalcolmGrow and DeWitt at their locations.See pages 6 and 7 for addresses and

appointment center phone num- bers.

Enrollment into TRICARE Primecontinues without change. Patientsenrolled to Walter Reed still reportto Walter Reed as usual to see theirPrimary Care Managers. Patientsenrolled to National Naval go there,and those enrolled to MalcolmGrow go there for primary care.Patients referred for specialty carefrom other Washington area clinics

are appointed to any one of thethree medical centers with availabletimes. Inpatient care also continuesat all three medical centers.

Non-Prime beneficiaries mayseek space available care in any areafacility. Specialty clinics at the med-

ical centers want to fill all theirappointment slots, so always callfor a military appointment beforeyou turn to civilian providers.

What’s going on that you don’tsee? Planning meetings and much,much more. Five years is not muchtime to design and implement thechanges needed at National Naval,Malcolm Grow and DeWitt for clin-ics and services to merge. Fundshave been approved, but theprocess of architectural design,

building and moving in stages tonew spaces will take a hugeamount of planning and organiza-

tional strategy.To give you an idea of the work

that’s gone on so far, here’s a partiallist of what has been accomplishedas of September 2006:• Office of Integration set up tooversee planning• Integration Steering Committeeestablished and working• Eight functional area subcommit-tees established and working• Space planning proposed

• Goals set and timelines estab-lished• Budget needs determined andrequested – and approved!• One Integrated Business Planwritten, submitted – and approved!• Regular ongoing meetings of

involved Command Flag officers• Two area-wide integration"change leaders" conferences con-vened

To keep updated on these andother Integration developments asthey evolve, check the Office ofIntegration website at www.bethes-da.med.navy.mil. Also, become aregular reader of your installationnewspaper. When you see this sign

you’ll know there’s news about theintegration efforts.

Q: How does Integration affect me NOW

A: No Clinic Relocations yet!

Guess what? Walter Reed is hiring

civilians. Right now. Even thoughthe hospital will be changing loca-tions in 2011, jobs are still becomingavailable. If you are a retiree, a fami-ly member, a medical professional oran interested civilian who wants towork in a clinic or hospital setting,do not hesitate to contact the person-nel office at Walter Reed to see what

This BRAC/Integration and TRICARE 2006-2007 informaal supplement to your Command newspaper was developwritten, and edited by members of the Integration Communications Committee, Office of Integration, and

Communications Advisory Committee to the Multi-ServiceMarket Office, TRICARE Region North.

Editors: Pat Cassimatis, Wal ter Reed ManagedCare MarketingDawn Marvin, Communications,National Naval Medical CenterDonna Sears, Patuxent River Naval CliniKathy Canfield, Malcolm Grow MedicalCenter

Graphics: Svetlana York, Onike Decker,and Miguel Cajigal, Communications,National Naval Medical Center

Photos: Thomas Balfour, Uniformed ServicesUniversityBobbi Jones, Comprint Military Publicatio

The information in this supplement was current at the time of pution, is not all-inclusive and is intended as educational in natureto date information about Integration is available at

Our Doors onGeorgia Ave

may close in2011, but Business Goeson as Usual

Photo by Bob

LCDR Erin Balog and Major Christopher Kieling consult on a patient ca

TRICARE_MIL_2006 9/6/06 4:33 PM



TRICARE - Advertising Supplement 2

Update:Integration Facts

August 2006 • An Office of Integration now oversees changes coming tomilitary medicine in the Washington, D.C. area.• Right now, there are NO CHANGES in how or whereyou receive care. Your primary care clinic and your prima-ry care provider are in the same locations they alwayswere.• Currently, Walter Reed Army Medical Center andNational Naval Medical Center are involved in joint staff

meetings. We are coordinating future budget decisions anddiscussing the merging of clinics and departments.• One goal of these discussions is that specialty services

become merged long before Walter Reed and NationalNaval physically merge. By the time this happens in 2011,the two facilities will already be one integrated family.• Today, when you receive care in the National CapitalArea you are likely to see Army doctors working atNational Naval, Navy doctors working at Walter Reed, andAir Force doctors working at both facilities.• Future plans also call for an enlarged DeWitt ArmyCommunity Hospital at Fort Belvoir to serve the militarycommunity in Northern Virginia. Many specialty serviceswill open clinics there. This larger hospital will be a train-ing hospital working closely with the new Bethesda med-ical center. Staff at both facilities will be tri-service.• The Uniformed Services University of the HealthSciences is part of integration, too. It is already located onthe Bethesda campus, and will centrally manage military

medical education and research programs at the new med-ical center, at DeWitt and Malcolm Grow, and elsewhere.• Funding for construction as well as an area-wide busi-ness plan have been approved. The many steps in the inte-gration process that still lie ahead include environmentalimpact studies, the drawing up of architectural designs,and, finally, the beginning of construction.

It may have come as a surprise tomany when the news broke thatWalter Reed installation would

close and an enlarged medical environ-ment would be built on the NationalNaval Medical Center campus and atDeWitt Army Community Hospital.There were, however, sound reasons forthe proposed changes. Closing the

Walter Reed installation makes sense,and when done right – and all the plan-ners are trying to assure that it will bedone right, merging medical centersand enlarging Fort Belvoir’s community

hospital will have distinct advantages.

The changes will:End Duplication of Services. Walter

Reed and National Naval are only 6.5miles from each other and the two hos-pitals separately duplicate many ser-vices. Integration will consolidate theseservices at a long-term cost savings withalmost no difference in drive time forpatients.

Modernize and Expand. The Walter

Reed building is aging, and would becost prohibitive to rebuild, whereas the

Bethesda campus offers room for expan-sion on its 243-acre site, and DeWitt is

also on a large post with room to build.Expansion means new construction andmodernized facilities.

Better Serve Beneficiaries Where They

Live. While most specialty clinics fromWalter Reed will move to the NationalNaval campus in Bethesda, many ser-vices will open clinics at the enlarged

DeWitt facility in Northern Virginia.More beneficiaries live in Maryland and

Northern Virginia than in the District.Appropriately-sized facilities will nowserve these populations.

In addition, outpatient care and same-day-surgery centers will be located atMalcolm Grow at Andrews Air Force

Base and at Kimbrough AmbulatoryCare Center at Fort Meade to serve ben-

eficiaries east and north of the city.

Effectively Position Graduate

Education and Research. Merging

National Naval and Walter Re

leverage graduate education a

training capabilities of the Uni

Services University on the sam

pus, and help maximize research

tunities with the National Insti

Health just across the street. The

will offer a unique government p

for healthcare, education, and res

Improve Commuting and P

The Bethesda campus is already

on the Metro Redline, and patien

choose (when possible) to use

transportation to avoid the ha

commuting and parking. Staff, t

be able to come to work by Me

thus free up parking for pa

Patients who have searched for p

at either Walter Reed or Nationa

at their current separate location

there is a need for more parking

modation. More parking will be

at the new facility in Bethesda as

at DeWitt to match the exp

planned for that facility.

The Office of Integration was established in Decemberof 2005. It is headed by two senior active-duty offi-cer-executives, one from National Naval Medical

Center and one from Walter Reed Army Medical Center.The primary mission is to oversee the merging ofWalter Reed and National Naval into the WalterReed National Military Medical Center atBethesda.

As of August 2006, the Office had grownto ten people from the original two. Staffis busy coordinating recommendationsfrom a network of groups working onthe integration process. These working

groups are made up of more than 1200staff members who represent coworkers and beneficiaries

within the military medical family of the Washington area.While the merger of National Naval and Walter Reed is a

large piece of integration in the area, it is not the only piece.

Ultimately integration will impact all local military trefacilities. The Office of Integration works closely with

ity commanders as discussions go forward onrequirements, manpower projections, and equ

needs.The Office is committed to keeping benefinformed, and has created a public webs

progress updates. Visitors to the site mquestions or provide feedback in a

comment section. You may accsite at www.bethesda.med.nav

The triangular logo you seidentifies information from the O

Integration. Look for this image installation newspapers, on military

web sites, and on signage. When you see it, you withere is an update on the integration process that mayou and your medical services.

Integration of Medical ServiceMakes Sense

The Office of Integration

TRICARE is published by Comprint Military Publications, 9030 Comprint Court,Gaithersburg, MD 20877, a private firm in no way connected with the Departmentof Defense, under exclusive written contract.

Contents are not the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government orthe Department of Defense.

COMPRINT

MILITARY PUBLICATIONS

9030 COMPRINT COURTGAITHERSBURG,MD 20877

Ad i i S l

TRICARE_MIL_2006 9/6/06 4:33 PM Page 4



Graduate Medical

Education in the

National Capital

Consortium at Walter Reed

Army Medical Center,

National Naval Medical

Center, Malcolm Grow

Medical Center and DeWitt

Army Community Hospital

is alive and well. There are

no plans to close any of the

65 physician training pro-

grams in the Consortium,

and with Medical Center

realignment, residencies and

fellowships are expected to

be as robust as ever.

It is anticipated that the

large new facility at Fort

Belvoir, and hundreds of

thousands of square feet of

new construction and reno-

vation at the National Naval

Bethesda campus will createstate-of-the-art institutionspoised to continue the high-est quality medical training.

Base Realignment andClosure mandates reorganiz-ing area military medicaltraining facilities to bringthem together in 2011 atBethesda, already home tothe Uniformed ServicesUniversity of the Health

Sciences. The NationalInstitutes of Health will be

just across the street. Thephysical co-location isexpected to maintain qualityprograms consistent orexceeding that presently at

Walter Reed and NationalNaval, and on par with lead-ing institutions such as JohnsHopkins and the MayoClinic.

Local graduate medical

education leaders have been

intimately involved in every

aspect of the realignment

process from ensuring ade-

quate patient populations for

all the training programs, to

designing call rooms and res-

ident office areas, to develop-

ing plans for a smooth transi-

tion over the next five years.

These leaders are developing

plans to anticipate the “look”

of graduate medical educa-

tion in 2011 with computer

labs, a new simulation center,

and increased space for

research.

Everyone involved in

Medical Education in the

Consortium is deeply com-

mitted to the outstanding

residencies and fellowships

now in place, and excited by

opportunities for changes

and improvements in facili-

ties and training programs in

the upcoming years.

Substantial benefits for both

staff and resident/fellow

physicians are expected. The

new Walter Reed National

Military Medical Center at

Bethesda, together w

enlarged facility a

Belvoir will be worth

to the one-hundre

legacy of excellence

tary medical care an

ical education in the N

Capital Area. Pr

admission informa

available at www.

reedmedicine.com.

Local Graduate Medical Education is Alive and We

2006 TRICARE - Advertising Supplement Pa

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I n t eg

rat i o n -

I n t e g

r a t i o

n -

I

n t e g r a t i o n -

I n t e g r a

t i o n

-

What's the BUZZ?Look for this sign: When you see this triangle, you will know the informati

update directly from the Office of Integration (OI

Look for it on signs, brochures, flyers, in your local com

newspapers and on the PUBLIC Web Site

www.bethesda.med.navy.This site also gives you an opportunity to ask quest

or voice your concerns about Integration.

us army: integration%20update%20sept%202006%20(pdf)

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