Army Medicine's newest brigadier general, Ron Place, was promoted on July 2 in the Pentagon Auditorium. The Surgeon General, Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, officiated.
Place is the Assistant Surgeon General for Force Projection. His job is being the "eyes, ears, and voice" of Army Medicine within the Pentagon. He keeps his ears tuned to discussions that may involve Army Medicine to ensure that The Surgeon General's viewpoint is heard. There may be times when Pentagon planners may not grasp the impact of proposed changes or new policies on Army Medicine. Place is there to ensure that the impact on Army Medicine is brought to the discussion.
Place is also tasked with being a lead for two complicated issues that face military health care. He is Army Medicine's functional champion for the electronic health record (EHR) and helps to guide the adoption of the principles of a high-reliability organization (HRO).
The EHR has been, as Place described it, an "inverted pyramid." In other words, adding capabilities to a system that is unstable -- standing on its "point" -- will only make the system less capable.
Interoperability between services with the EHR is getting better, though, he said. Current goals for the EHR -- the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics has the lead -- are to develop a more stable platform and make the EHR more adaptable and clinically capable for the end user.
The selection process for a vendor to develop the new EHR is nearly complete, he added. Vendor selection is possible as early as August 2015 for a platform that will be more versatile and designed with the clinical users in mind. The end result should speed up access to clinical information, improve care for patients, and gain better interoperability between DoD and Veterans Affairs clinical settings.
With regard to improving safety as part of becoming an HRO, Army Medicine is gaining a better understanding where the challenges are.
"High reliability is about reducing risk for the patient," Place said. "We've been doing this for years, although we didn't call it high reliability. We've always been focused on reducing risk."
Training programs, he said, are being reviewed to add the principles of high-reliability. The goal remains how to achieve the best outcomes for patients.
Part of the aim of being an HRO is to collect the right feedback and ensure the right metrics and tools are used to measure improvement. Change has to be measured to determine if it is effective, he said. If a change has not resulted in an improvement, then a decision has to be made on what adjustments have to be made.
Place had significant leadership responsibilities at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center as chief of surgery and at Madigan Army Medical Center as the Deputy Commander for Clinical Services and Principal Deputy Commander. He also commanded the medical activities at Fort Knox and Fort Stewart.
Place originally hails from South Dakota where he graduated from the University of South Dakota cum laude and is a graduate from Creighton University School of Medicine. He is a graduate of both the Command and General Staff Officer Course and the National War College and is board certified in general surgery and colorectal surgery.
Immediately before coming to Office of the Surgeon General, he was at the National War College where he earned a master's degree in National Security Strategy with a Health Strategy Concentration.
Place deployed multiple times as general surgeon -- once during Operation Iraqi Freedom and twice during Operation Enduring Freedom; he also deployed to Kosovo as part of Task Force Med Falcon IX.
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