The Task Force on the Future of Military Healthcare, a subcommittee of the Defense Health Board, advises the Secretary of Defense and others in the defense department on how to sustain military healthcare services provided to the armed forces, retirees, and their families. The task force just recently published a final report that makes several recommendations for sustaining military healthcare services such as:
- Doing a better job at integrating purchased care and direct care at the point of delivery
- Making certain that healthcare is available for all individuals that are eligible and ensuring that TRICARE operates as a second payer when there is no other health insurance
- Improving wellness, preventive care, and disease management programs and measuring their effectiveness
- Streamlining procurement systems to produce more effective contracting
- Paying attention to the medical readiness of the Reserve component
- Restructuring the cost-sharing structure for retirees and their families and make changes as needed to enrollment fees, deductibles, co-payments, indexing, and the pharmacy benefit program
For more information on the task force and a copy of the report, go to www.dodfuturehealthcare.net.
