The Department of Defense will begin to transition the management of hospitals and clinics of the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army to the Defense Health Agency on Oct. 1 in compliance with the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017, the Air Force reported Tuesday.
“For the first time in our modern military’s history, a single agency, the DHA, will be responsible for all the health care the Department of Defense delivers to our 9.5 million beneficiaries,” said Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, director of DHA and a 2019 Wash100 Award winner.
“This consolidation will drive higher levels of readiness for operational and medical forces and integrate health care services to standardize practices across the entire department, which means patients will have a consistent, high-quality health care experience, no matter where they receive their care.”
DHA has been running eight military hospitals and clinics since October 2018 as part of the transition’s first phase.
The next phase of the transition period will run from Oct. 1 through October 2021 and will focus on four objectives: centralizing management and administration of military treatment facilities under DHA, establishing 21 health care markets to facilitate the management of MTFs in local areas, setting up a small market and standalone MTF organization and forming Defense Health Regions in Europe and Indo-Pacific region in 2020.