washington scene LEGISLATIVE NEWS THAT AFFECTS YOU
Health Reform?
The newly established Defense Health Agency will consolidate military health care to reduce redundancies and generate efficiencies. This could allow DoD to save money without punishing beneficiaries.
DoD submitted its second of three reports to Congress June 27 outlining a blueprint for mandated reforms that will consolidate the military health care system.
The FY 2013 Defense Authorization Act authorized the establishment of the Defense Health Agency (DHA) to generate budget savings by consolidating redundant health care spending. The Army, Air Force, and Navy currently operate many duplicative health care programs. The DHA will have oversight of the following military health care programs by the end of FY 2015:
■ medical logistics,
■ facility planning,
■ health information technology,
■ TRICARE,
■ pharmacy,
■ acquisition,
■ public health,
■ research and development,
■ education and training, and
■ budget and resource management.
The most recent report outlined the purpose and goals to be achieved in consolidating medical logistics, facility planning, health information technology, and TRI-CARE. It also projected the expected bud-get savings associated with moving these programs under the auspices of the DHA.
Of particular interest in the report is the expectation the DHA could generate $787 million in TRICARE savings over six years by consolidating call centers and streamlining coordination with other health insurance programs.
The overall intent is to identify opportunities to realize systematic cost savings through the adoption of common clinical and business processes, which will result in consolidation and standardization of the best practices, not more costly duplication of effort. This will help save money without passing on the cost to beneficiaries.
DoD estimates the implementation of this new agency will generate savings in the range of $1.46 billion to $2.9 billion over six years. This only takes into account projections for four of the 10 shared services plans — future cost savings could be even greater. The final report is due in September.
This transformation and subsequent savings are long overdue. MOAA believes this effort, combined with 2012’s TRICARE and pharmacy fee increases, demonstrates health care costs are not “eating the [defense] department alive.”
Where Do Your Legislators Stand? October’s Washington Scene column will feature a scorecard showing specific actions your U.S. senators and representative have (or have not) taken to support selected MOAA legislative priorities.
SEPTEMBER 2013 MILITARY OFFICER 33
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