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PHILADELPHIA - Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support’s partnership with a new Defense Department health agency will standardize services to speed service and reduce costs for military customers.
“[DLA Troop Support] Medical will work directly with the Defense Health Agency to provide the military services with their medical supply and pharmaceutical requirements,” said Don Buchwald, DLA Troop Support Medical’s director of customer operations. “Having one major partner with the power to make choices for all [the] services will enable us to speed up the coordination process and deliver new products and services faster and more efficiently than in the past.”
DHA, which was activated Oct. 1, is charged with making the military health system more efficient by consolidating health care and support services among the military services, according to the agency’s website.
DHA personnel initially reviewed about 1,300 items for standardization, and a decision to reduce the number resulted in cost reductions of about $6 million in fiscal year 2013, Buchwald said. To date, the DHA Mail-Order Pharmacy Program, supported by DLA Troop Support Medical’s National Prime Vendor Program, has reduced costs by another $61 million. The rate of reduction has increased each quarter, promising increased future savings, he said.
Once the selection for a particular medical item is made, DLA Troop Support Medical works with the manufacturer to negotiate lower prices based on projected demand, Buchwald said. Better pricing comes from DHA’s work to narrow the choice for items like surgical draperies, scrubs, and more costly items like orthopedic, spine and cardiac instruments.
During a Feb. 12 director’s call, Defense Logistics Agency Director Navy Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek highlighted DLA’s role in the DHA initiative.
“We’re helping [DHA] figure out all that back-end logistic stuff, because we're the folks that support them,” he said. “I think there are huge opportunities to continue world-class health care to active duty and retired people, but to do it for a whole lot less.”
During the planning phase, DLA Troop Support Medical team members worked closely with their DHA counterparts to define each agency’s role, Buchwald said.
“We also worked up mutual performance standards that outlined their responsibilities and our responsibilities to ensure the partnership would work effectively and efficiently,” he said.
DLA Troop Support Medical Deputy Director Geneva Polini said the supply chain also helped DHA outline and negotiate its role and responsibilities with DLA, the services and the other parties throughout DoD.
“The smooth and rapid transition of DHA into the medical health system is a testament to the thorough planning and total cooperation among the many stakeholders in the DoD medical supply chain,” she said.
The focus of both agencies on improving medical support to warfighters will reduce costs significantly throughout the next six years, Buchwald said.
“In the developing relationship between DLA and DHA, providing quality medical service and support at reduced costs is transitioning from a theoretical concept to reality at blinding speed,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 03.12.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.13.2014 14:24 |
| Story ID: | 121963 |
| Location: | PHILADELPHIA, PA, US |
| Web Views: | 212 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, DLA Troop Support partners with DHA to improve service, prices, by Dena Selkow, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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