Military Health System Has Courage to Change, Official Says

To keep pace with the future, Woodson said, the military health system must have the courage to become more joint, more collaborative and integrative, and broader in focus to leverage all the talent in the system, irrespective of service or rank.

“We need the courage to [re-examine] how we incentivize behavior in our system. … We need to face up to the shortcomings of our information systems, our patient engagement strategies and our approaches to changing the behavior of our population in terms of health risks,” he said.

The system also must engage in a strategy of collaboration with all of its federal partners, Woodson said, particularly the Veterans Affairs Department.