By Carrie Petershagen
Puget Sound MHS
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – Col. George Appenzeller, market manager for the Puget Sound Military Health System (MHS), hosted the organization’s annual Performance Planning Offsite on Oct. 3 to kick-off business-planning efforts for fiscal years 2019-2023.
This annual planning session brings together medical leaders from market partners: Madigan Army Medical Center, Naval Hospital Bremerton, Naval Health Clinic Oak Harbor and the Air Force’s 62nd Medical Squadron. Guest speakers represented the Defense Health Agency (DHA), U.S. Army Medical Command, Navy Medicine West, UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans and HealthNet Federal Services.
As part of the Puget Sound MHS, teams from Army, Navy and Air Force hospitals and medical clinics regularly collaborate in work groups to better coordinate health care delivery in the market.
“I am very impressed with the team’s efforts to improve the readiness of our medical forces and provide the best care possible to our patients.” Appenzeller said. “This team continuously looks for ways to work together across all of our military facilities and with our healthcare partners. The synergy in this market is amazing, and it’s apparent that nothing happens without input from everyone on the team.”
The DHA’s Deputy Director Guy Kiyokawa also addressed the group.
“You have all done a great job up here,” he said. “We have a lot of markets doing great things, so how do we take those best practices and move them forward?”
Some of the market’s accomplishments over the last year were shared with attendees:
• Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services awarded the Puget Sound MHS hospitals 4 out of 5 stars in their HCHAPS Hospital Star Rating program.
• Subspecialty Pediatricians are now offered telemedicine services to Oak Harbor patients.
• Madigan Certified Nurse Midwives increased patient encounters by 75 percent, despite a decrease in providers.
• Obstructive Sleep Apnea Dental Appliance initiative recognized by Army Medicine with its Third Quarter Wolf Pack Award for process improvement and innovation.
• Naval Hospital Bremerton ranked in the top 10 percent nationally for its low rate of Otolaryngology readmissions.
• Madigan ranked in the top 10 percent nationally for low complication rates on the entire spectrum of orthopedic procedures.
• Madigan and Bremerton piloted diabetes clinics and are already seeing improvements in disease management.
About the Puget Sound MHS
The Puget Sound MHS is an integrated medical market consisting of Army, Navy and Air Force medical treatment facilities providing care to over 288,500 local beneficiaries. Working together across service lines ensure service members, retirees and families receive timely access to high-quality health care. The need for an integrated, responsive health system has never been more crucial. Collaboration improves access to care, removes unnecessary redundancies, reduces variation in care and will ultimately improve patient experiences while maintaining fiscal efficiencies in a resource constrained environment.
| Date Taken: |
10.03.2017 |
| Date Posted: |
11.01.2017 13:37 |
| Story ID: |
253758 |
| Location: |
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: |
391 |
| Downloads: |
0 |
PUBLIC DOMAIN
This work, Top military medical officials help kick off business planning efforts for Puget Sound MHS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
