Navy to Advance Tech Initiatives

Accenture Federal Services, (AFS) https://www.accenturefederal.com, a subsidiary of Accenture, has been awarded a five year IDIQ contract valued at more than $79 million. The contract will provide support to BUMED https://www.med.navy.mil also known as Navy Medicine as they advance health informatics, virtual health, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) initiatives. This will empower data-driven decisions at the intersection of health IT, patient care, healthcare operations, and readiness.

AFS will use their deep industry experience in private sector healthcare to help BUMED navigate the shift to care models that are more data driven, patient centric, cost efficient, and driven by technology.

AFS has already received five task orders supporting BUMED with human-centered design, project management, and functional support to the Fleet, Fleet Marine Force, and Reserve Components for activities involving EHR modernization and virtual health.

“We are proud to help BUMED not only reshape and optimize but also to embrace modern technologies to transform wellness, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and clinical decision support to improve health and readiness,” said Jeff Plummer, AFS Navy Medicine lead.

Also, to further express the Navy’s interest in Virtual Health (VH), last April, Vice Admiral C. Forrest Faison III, Medical Corps, US. Navy, appeared before the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Defense, to discuss how the Navy is interested in expanding VH capabilities.

To increase the use of VH, the Navy has established the Naval Medical Center in San Diego as their first virtual medical center. The work at the medical center will emphasis Tele-Critical Care (TCC) and Operational Virtual Health (OVH). Corpsmen will provide hands-on patient care while patients are seen at outside Military Treatment Facilities (MTF) but connected virtually to providers at their local MTF.

Go to https://appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/04.03.19-Faison%20Testimony.pdf for the testimony of Vice Admiral C. Forrest Faison III, Medical Corps, U.S Navy held April 3, 2019.