The need for healthcare systems to create effective change has led the Army to adopt the service line concept to improve efficiency and safety. A service line consists of having an organizational team develop the strategy to ensure accountability, increase efficiency, and improve and sustain standard processes in a clinical area.
Army Medicine http://armymedicine.mil is developing service lines for seven clinical or administrative functions that includes surgical services, telehealth, women’s health, behavioral health, primary care, physical performance, and the Integrated Disability Evaluation system.
Lt. Col. Matthew Welder in the Office of the Surgeon General explained, “The service line for surgery concept grew out of the recognition that there was no easy way to centrally manage and standardize surgical processes.”
He also said, “Three factors are needed to implement a service line for surgery includes developing a consistent patient experience, providing quality and safety of care, and having surgical teams ready to deploy. It is very important to establish one central management point in the Army Medical Department as central management is needed in managing surgeries when cost oversight is considered.”
Currently, 25 Army Medical Treatment Facilities have surgical capabilities. In FY 2013, the Army’ surgical services were about one billion. However, the Surgical Services Line team has already reported a projected cost savings of $39 million due to the process and practice changes.
Although the Telehealth Service Line supports a number of clinical areas such as radiology, dermatology, and cardiology, nearly 90 percent of patient encounters use telehealth for behavioral health.
Behavioral health and telehealth capabilities are clinical areas that can help each other. Dr. Colleen Rye, Chief, of the Telehealth Service Line, reports that by providing behavioral health services using telehealth following the Fort Hood shootings really helped to make additional crisis counseling available.
One goal for the service lines is to ensure consistency of service for all Military Treatment Facilities. In the past, no two Military Treatment Facilities or Regional Health Commands had operated in exactly the same way and as a result the data wasn’t always accurate. Accurate data is greatly needed to lead to more informed decision-making.