TRIPLER ARMY MEDICAL CENTER, HI – Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Place, director of the Defense Health Agency (DHA) hosted a ceremony on September 27 officially establishing the DHA Region Indo-Pacific (DHAR-IP).
Led by Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Heck, director of the DHAR-IP, the region oversees health care delivery for over 234,000 beneficiaries currently enrolled in Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) in Hawaii, Guam, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. Comprised of 45 medical facilities, the region provides health care to Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Space Force service members, their families, and military retirees in an area of responsibility spanning nearly half the earth’s surface.
“Each military treatment facility has a unique mission, unique geography, and even unique history,” said Place. “We know that health care is a local experience, and what we aim to achieve with this transition is a consistently excellent, standardized approach for our patients and our health care team wherever they serve.”
Following the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, the Defense Health Agency assumed responsibility for the administration and management of MTFs, including clinics and hospitals, throughout the world. By establishing the DHAR-IP, DHA and military service branches are able to tailor health care delivery and medical readiness to the needs of an increasingly critical strategic location.
“We must deliver the best possible outcomes to the patients we serve, and we must maintain a ready medical force and a medically ready force,” explained Place. “A medically ready force means we must ensure everyone in uniform is healthy and safe from potential medical threats. A ready medical force means we must support health care professionals through training, education, and clinical settings in which our medical teams obtain and sustain necessary skills to serve the men and women in uniform, their families, and those who have served our country in the past.”
“The purpose of the DHAR-IP is to support our military service members and their families,” noted Heck. “As we move from transition to optimization, we must remember that our MTFs are operational readiness platforms. We are charged not only with providing high reliability health care to our beneficiaries, but meeting the requirements of our Combatant Commanders.”
Watch the entire ceremony on DVIDS:
Learn more about the MTFs in the DHAR Indo-Pacific region:
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