Photo By Staff Sgt. Emily Farnsworth | U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Place, the Defense Health Agency director, right, greets...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska. -- Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson's Joint Venture Hospital hosted a ceremony formally establishing the Defense Health Agency's Alaska Market Nov. 30, 2021.
The ceremony marked the transition of Alaska-based military medical treatment facilities into a military medical market. According to DHA, a market is a group of hospitals and clinics in one geographic area working together with its TRICARE partners, Veterans Affairs hospitals, other federal health care organizations, private sector teaching hospitals, medical universities, and other healthcare partners.
"As we move forward with the establishment of military markets, it's essential that we recognize that each market and each military community has unique missions, unique characteristics in each unique geography, and quite frankly, even unique histories," said U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Place, the Defense Health Agency director. "I understand that health care is a local experience, best managed by those of you here on the ground, interacting with our patients directly. That couldn't be more true than here in Alaska. Here in Alaska, inter-service and interagency cooperation is a long-standing feature born of necessity and the understanding that we can serve a wider community better when we integrate our services and operate in a community that embraces their affiliation with the Department of Defense mission."
Place said DHA began the use of markets to optimize health care delivery across the DOD by bringing them together in a single organization with the idea of making it better quality, better access, lower costs.
In Alaska, medical treatment facilities have been coordinating efforts to maintain medical mission readiness across the state through the Alaska Federal Health Care Partnership since 1995. The formal establishment date of the Alaska Market was Sept. 30, 2021, to support standardized care across the state.
"We were already partially integrated, but this will now allow us to be better integrated jointly here… with some of our other partners," said U.S. Air Force Col. Michael Fea, the 673d Medical Group commander. "I think there's a great opportunity there. When we think about this, just beyond that, just trying to make sure that we're optimizing the resources we've been given to really give the best care to our patients that we possibly can."
Fea serves as the director of the Alaska Market, which consists of the 673d Medical Group, 354th Medical Group, and Medical Department Activity-Alaska communities.
Fea also said there was no expected change for how military members and their dependents receive their health care across the state.
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| Date Taken: | 12.06.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 12.06.2021 14:32 |
| Story ID: | 410521 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, AK, US |
| Web Views: | 591 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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