ASDHA
A Message from the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
Colleagues,
As spring reveals herself in nature’s annual rite of renewal, I hope this note finds you well and filled with the spirit of optimism that the season brings.
After attending our organization’s annual “family reunion” in Cleveland last week—better known as the MHS Conference—I’ve returned invigorated, with a renewed sense of pride and excitement. The theme, “The Future of Military Medicine: Integrated, Innovative, Ready,” perfectly captures this pivotal moment in the Military Health System. The plenary and breakout sessions rose to the occasion, brimming with ideas to enhance our support to the warfighter through clinical care, research, and technological advancement. At the same time, we continue to invest in workforce wellbeing, forge new partnerships, and strengthen existing ones.
Lieutenant Commander Dan Cnossen, Navy SEAL and seven-time Paralympic medalist, inspired us with a powerful reminder of our raison d’être. Dr. Scott Steele, President of Cleveland Clinic and recently retired Army combat surgeon, reaffirmed our core values—Quality, Safety, and Patient Experience—while emphasizing the critical need for high-complexity case volume. Mr. Jay Hurst, PTDO Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, opened the week with his unequivocal support for the MHS, saying “our medical providers and our medical support staff are the best people in the world.”
If you were unable to attend the conference, I encourage you to watch the recorded sessions that will be available on the conference website within the next two weeks and check out the articles and videos posted in the news room on health.mil, including one on our “top guns” of health care — our annual MHS award winners! Very impressive!
Across military medicine, the past few weeks have been fast-paced and full of accomplishments. We were proud to learn that 73% of DoD hospitals received the prestigious “A” grade for Patient Safety from the Leapfrog Group—more than double last year’s rate of 43%, and well above the national average of 32% among participating hospitals. Congratulations to the team at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center for earning designation as a German Level 1 trauma center.
Our multilateral partnership strategy continues to expand in both scope and relevance to our readiness mission. From the DAD-R&E team’s work in Denver with the VA on prosthetic access innovation, to the DHA-VA collaboration identifying over 10 sites for enhanced partnerships across enlisted and officer roles, momentum is building. The 48th Medical Group at Lakenheath, England signed six contracts with the United Kingdom National Health Service to enable U.S. European Command personnel to work within NHS hospitals. Meanwhile, the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, continues advancing toward burn unit certification in partnership with Johns Hopkins.
These are just a few highlights of the remarkable integration and innovation taking place across the MHS in support of readiness—but our work is far from over.
The coming weeks will be critical. As part of a zero-based budgeting restructuring initiative, we’ll be making the case for sustaining vital resources, demonstrating how we bolster warfighting capability and enhance lethality. I was heartened to see the House Armed Services Committee hear our February call by adding $2 billion in direct support for military medicine in the current reconciliation bill. I will continue to advocate vigorously on your behalf—your dedication and accomplishments make my job not only easier, but a true privilege.
Thank you for making the Military Health System such an extraordinary team to represent.
Keep up the great work and thank you for all that you do. Don’t forget to enjoy the beauty of spring—and take a moment to stop and smell the flowers.
Very respectfully,
Steve
Stephen Ferrara, M.D.
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
A Message from the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
Dear Colleagues,
I apologize for being a bit overdue in checking in with you – I enjoy sharing what’s happening here in the Pentagon and hearing your candid and always helpful feedback.
It’s been a busy March! The month started with the annual AMSUS meeting where I met many of you and heard about the great work you do across the MHS. We heard inspiring and informative speeches from the Surgeons General and the Joint Staff Surgeon. Each laid out an assessment, a vision, and a plan for how their medical departments will continue to maintain readiness despite ongoing resource challenges in an increasingly complex global threat environment. I took away the ever-increasing need for Service interoperability as we confront the tyranny of distance and the distributed nature of operations within the Indo-Pacific AOR. I couldn’t agree more. During my remarks, I summarized my top three priorities that focus on the “3 S’s”: Support, Sustain, and Strengthen.
- Support the Warfighter (always)
- Sustain our Skills (everyday)
- Strengthen our Chain (in perpetuity)
My team and I also had the opportunity to meet with military medical leaders from around the globe. Cultivating and strengthening these partnerships is a strategic imperative. Complex, international geographic borders and the requirement for land, sea, and air prowess reinforces the need for teamwork across both our Services and with our allies.
In March, the DoD also hosted the FY25 Q2 HEC and JEC meetings, a Congressionally established forum for senior MHS and VA leaders to convene and establish strategic priorities for collaboration. I’m excited that our leadership team’s inaugural meetings with these groups prioritized bolder, more innovative initiatives than ever before. Our ideas place the emphasis on initiatives that will enhance our Ready Medical Force capability. We know that focusing on high volume, high acuity care is critical to Skills Sustainment and Force Generation, and that it’s also key to morale and workforce stability. In fact, we will be identifying 4-8 locations for closer DoD and VA collaboration soon. I’ll keep you updated on this development.
My favorite part of this job is visiting you. Recent visits included Guantanamo Bay, Walter Reed, Wright-Patterson, Fort Detrick, and the 711th Human Performance Wing. Your questions during town halls about job stability, hiring, workload, and the future of the MHS are invaluable. I want you to know your concerns are heard at the highest levels of the Pentagon and it is because of the critical nature of your work that the MHS has been given significant flexibility regarding hiring and employment policies.
I’m looking forward to visiting California, Nebraska, Texas, and Guam this month, and attending the MHS Conference in Cleveland. Thank you for your hard work. I’m committed to ensuring you have the resources, training, and tools you need. There are many excellent healthcare systems, but only the MHS goes to war.
Very respectfully,
Steve
Stephen Ferrara, M.D.
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
A Message from the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs—DHA Director Transition Announcement
Colleagues,
This morning, Army Lieutenant General (LTG) Dr. Telita Crosland, the fourth Director of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), is beginning her retirement. I want to thank LTG Crosland for her dedication to the nation, to the Military Health System, and to Army Medicine for the past 32 years.
I have designated Dr. David Smith, the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, as the Acting Director of the DHA while the Department conducts the normal nomination process. Dr. Smith is a steady hand with decades of experience in the Military Health System in and out of uniform. I ask everyone to support Dr. Smith and the entire DHA team as we stabilize and strengthen our system serving the most lethal fighting force on the planet. Dr. Smith’s biography is available on Health.mil.
I am confident the DHA will continue to improve health care in support of our beneficiaries and rise to meet complex security challenges worldwide. Thank you for all you do for the Department of Defense and our great nation.
Respectfully,
Stephen Ferrara, M.D.
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
A Message from the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
Colleagues,
What an exciting first two weeks it’s been! I’ve had the opportunity to talk to Military Health System leaders across the gamut: MTF directors to the SG’s, DHA to the Joint Staff. I’ve heard from folks doing the frontline work right at the bedside. I’ve seen many of the great things you’re doing at the deckplate — saving lives at the bleeding edge of the most complex, global healthcare system in the world. It’s been inspirational.
This is an action-oriented administration. The Secretary is bringing that energy and laser focus to our warfighting mission and I submit that the MHS is absolutely a weapon system enabler.
We enhance the lethality of our fighting force by being a force multiplier. We enable and empower the warfighter to take risk with the confidence that should they be injured, they will receive prompt and effective medical care — anytime, anywhere.
Ours is a no fail mission.
To ensure we remain mission capable, we must seek to continuously restore, stabilize, fortify, and sustain our medical capabilities.
In the operational realm, this means ensuring the readiness of programs such as the Joint Trauma System and the Armed Services Blood Program; critically evaluating and updating policies and procedures matrixing the Services, the DHA, and the Combatant Commands. Within our MTFs, thousands of healthcare professionals execute on our healthcare delivery mission. The entire team who takes care of patients across the arc of life, from a person’s first breath to their last, is vital to reaffirming the ties that bind us as a military family, while supporting the crucial readiness dyad: Skills Sustainment and Force Generation.
In the coming weeks and months, I’ll be traveling to CONUS and OCONUS sites across the MHS. I wish I could meet each and every one of you. I look forward to seeing your spaces — where patients are healed, and the art of healing is conveyed. I’m eager to hear your thoughts and ideas. Be candid!
Thank you, and may God guide your sacred work.
Respectfully,
Stephen Ferrara, M.D.
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
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