The Defense Health Agency recently completed the migration of 140 military medical treatment facility (MTF) websites to the TRICARE.mil domain, a key milestone in the transition of management and administration of the MTFs from the services to the DHA.
The three-year project finalizes an effort to modernize the web presence of military hospitals and clinics worldwide and provide a standardized experience for patients throughout the Military Health System. The goal is providing facility personnel and MTF recipients with a comprehensive source of information in an easily accessible, centralized location.
“The standardization of the military medical facilities websites is about getting healthier together. We now can share resources, whether it is to develop products that provide better service to our patients or to discover information gaps,” said Diana Logreira, DHA’s chief of digital communications. “We can also easily share local stories with other facilities, to or from TRICARE.mil, expanding our knowledge of relevant topics for our communities. We hope that the websites will become the connecting tissue among our patient population and staffers worldwide.”
Among the upgrades are an enhanced user interface and easier access to facility-specific information and TRICARE benefits. Changes to local hospital and clinic websites include ease of navigation, up-to-date healthcare information, and easy to find patient safety data.
User input was a key part of the process, and DHA plans to continue using that type of feedback, not only for developing improved interactivity online, but in all aspects of the transition.
"For more than a decade, the TRICARE.mil team has been using user input to drive improvements to the enterprise website,” said Karen Roberts, deputy director of communications for the Military Health System and DHA. “Building on that strong history, the team is ensuring the same approach is used for the MTF sites and we will continue to enhance the sites based on user input."
While the sites will all reside under the TRICARE domain, local MTFs will still manage their own sites to keep their beneficiaries aware of facility and area-specific issues.
The website enhancements are part of the transition of administrative oversight of MTFs to the DHA under the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.
The list of military hospitals and clinics can be found here.