Skip to main content

Military Health System

New Small Market and Stand Alone MTF Organization Marks Big Milestone

Image of The Defense Health Agency officially established the Small Market and Stand Alone Military Treatment Facility Organization, or SSO, during a ceremony at Joint Base San Antonio-Kelly Field in Texas on Dec. 14. The Defense Health Agency officially established the Small Market and Stand Alone Military Treatment Facility Organization, or SSO, during a ceremony at Joint Base San Antonio-Kelly Field in Texas on Dec. 14.

Recommended Content:

DHA Health Care Market Structure | Small Market and Stand-Alone MTF Organizations | Military Health System Transformation

The Defense Health Agency officially established the Small Market and Stand Alone Military Treatment Facility Organization, or SSO, during a ceremony at Joint Base San Antonio-Kelly Field, Texas on Dec. 14.

With 20 Direct Reporting Military Health System Markets established within the U.S. during the past year, the DHA has now launched an intermediate management organization to serve the smaller markets, and stand-alone hospitals and clinics that are located outside of the larger market regions.

The SSO is responsible for providing care to an eligible population of 240,000 beneficiaries across 32 states and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The SSO consists of 17 small markets and 68 stand-alone military medical treatment facilities. A primary goal is to standardize health care delivery processes at these facilities.

Currently, larger markets allow groups of military hospitals and clinics in one geographic area to work together with TRICARE partners, Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, other federal health care organizations, private sector teaching hospitals and medical universities. Markets operate as a system to share patients, staff, budgets, and other functions to improve readiness and the delivery and coordination of health services. The new SSO was established to offer these same benefits to more geographically isolated locations.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to participate in a number of ceremonies across the Military Health System and across the country welcoming new military markets and the hospitals and clinics within them, but this one is different,” said DHA Director Army Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Ronald Place, who hosted the ceremony.

“Today, we’re welcoming a team that includes MTFs from throughout the United States and one in Cuba. The largest of our large markets has less than 35 MTFs – this one has 140 MTFs.”

The facilities the SSO supports account for just over a quarter of all health care encounters within the MHS direct-care system.

What makes the SSO unique is the varying size, scale and scope of these facilities. The cross-service collaboration that existed within the geographic areas where the larger markets now exist will give facilities under the SSO a foundation to build on, Place said.

“We will leverage the knowledge and experience that we have gained from transitioning those large markets and now put our focus here in the small markets and MTFs, where most of our service members actually get their care,” said Place.

“Health care is a local experience, best managed by those of you on the ground, interacting with leaders and our patients directly. But what we aim to achieve is a consistent, standardized approach for our patients and for our health care team.”

Key to that standardization is a system and approach that is consistent from across all facilities, making the transitions that are part of military life easier on both the patients and the personnel.

“That couldn’t be more true than it is in the SSO,” said Place.

The new SSO Director Air Force Maj. Gen. Shanna Woyak added, “From start to finish, the individuals who stood up the SSO have been nothing short of inspiring – the long hours and the work that it takes to put a new organization together. Their commitment to our mission, often on borrowed time, has been noticed."

It took “a leap of faith” for many people to realize what a new and integrated way forward for military medicine would look like and that the SSO is a nuanced part of that future vision, but it is no less important, Woyak said.

“What the SSO does for the medical readiness of the force, because of the numbers, the locations and the integration with the larger force, is collectively greater than what we get at the larger sites,” she said. “Our promise to support the MTFs – we’re going to do that to the best of our ability. We will support you.”

Leadership, Woyak said, has never been more important in military medicine than it is today.

“We will learn from you. We will share with you. We will tirelessly advocate for all of our MTFs and, more importantly, we will lead with purpose. We will lead with collaboration; we will lead with innovation; and we will definitely lead with a vision focused on creating highly effective, highly integrated health care delivery systems.”

What’s comes next for the DHA?

In 2022, the agency will assume management and administration of all overseas MTFs, divided into two regions: DHA Region Indo-Pacific and DHA Region Europe.

You also may be interested in...

MHS Leaders Focus on Readiness, Collaboration to Advance Military Health Care

Article
3/15/2023
MHS Leaders Focus on Readiness, Collaboration to Advance Military Health Care

Medical professionals from across the Military Health System, the federal government, and international organizations met in National Harbor, Maryland, at the annual meeting of AMSUS, the Society of Federal Health Professionals, in February. At two plenary sessions, MHS senior leaders spoke about their joint vision for the future of military health.

Recommended Content:

About the MHS | Military Health System Transformation | Innovation at the Defense Health Agency

New DHA Region to Support Health Care Across Three Combatant Commands

Article
10/26/2022
Two men unfold flags

The Defense Health Agency established the DHA Region Europe Oct. 25, 2022, welcoming hospitals and clinics in Europe and the Middle East to the new region.

Recommended Content:

Defense Health Agency Region Europe | DHA Health Care Market Structure | Military Hospitals and Clinics

Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center Holds Town Hall in Advance of DHA Transition

Article Around MHS
10/24/2022
Military personnel speaks at NMCPHS town hall event

The Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center held a town hall meeting on Oct. 12 at their Portsmouth, Virginia, headquarters, in advance of their transition to the Defense Health Agency (DHA) Public Health directorate.

Recommended Content:

Public Health | Military Health System Transformation

Chief Medical Officer Earns Top Honor for Excellence in Health Care

Article
10/12/2022
Two men pose with an award

The San Antonio Market’s chief medical officer received a top honor from the American Academy of Family Physicians for his outstanding contributions as a physician leader.

Recommended Content:

DHA Health Care Market Structure

MHS Minute | September 2022

Video
10/12/2022
MHS Minute

Recommended Content:

Defense Health Agency | Military Health System Transformation | DHA Health Care Market Structure

DHA Turns 9: 'Now Fully Responsible for Health Care Delivery' in DOD

Article
10/6/2022
Four DHA personnel, including DHA Director Place, center, cut a birthday cake with a sword to celebrate DHA's ninth birthday. Oct. 1, 2022.

Defense Health Agency celebrates its 9th year; continues to grow military medical mission.

Recommended Content:

Defense Health Agency | Military Health System Transformation | Public Health

DHA Region Indo-Pacific Standardizes Medical Readiness and Health Care

Article
9/30/2022
A man speaks into a microphone on a podium

DHA establishes DHA Region Indo-Pacific on Sept. 27.

Recommended Content:

Military Health System Transformation | Defense Health Agency Region Indo-Pacific

Technology and Medicine: The Digital Age of Health Care

Article
8/26/2022
Photo of an afternoon panel of four people

Technology is transforming health care and incorporating new elements for providers in their practices.

Recommended Content:

Military Health System Transformation | MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | Health Care Technology | Defense Health Information Technology Symposium

San Antonio Market Celebrates First Anniversary as a Unified Health Care System

Article Around MHS
7/20/2022
Two airmen talking.

The San Antonio Market will celebrate its one-year anniversary as a unified military health care system this week.

Recommended Content:

Direct Reporting Markets | Military Health System Transformation

C-Suite's Culture of Care

Article
4/27/2022
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Clinton Murray (right), Brooke Army Medical Center commanding general and an infectious disease physician, and Dr. Evan Renz, deputy to the commander for quality and safety and a general surgeon, stop to compare notes during Saturday morning rounds at BAMC on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Dec. 18, 2021. (Courtesy Photo)

It can be a balancing act, but senior leaders at Brooke Army Medical Center make it a priority to carve out time for clinical care.

Recommended Content:

Military Health System Transformation | MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record

MHS GENESIS: Commanders Say Electronic Health Records Foster Improved Care

Article
4/20/2022
An Army soldier and patient actor sports a mock impalement while providing simulated medical information to test out a new electronic medical record system designed to virtually document medical encounters in the field. The mock scenario was part of the U.S. Navy’s Rim of the Pacific exercise in 2018. (Photo: Ana Allen, U.S. Army)

MHS GENESIS improves health care for military beneficiaries across the enterprise.

Recommended Content:

Military Health System Transformation | MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record

MHS GENESIS Now Deployed at 66 of 138 Military Hospital and Clinic Commands

Article
4/8/2022
Air Force Col. Dolphis Hall, 4th Medical Group commander, left, and Chief Master Sgt. Kaleah Belin, 4th MDG senior enlisted leader, pose for a photo at the Thomas Koritz Medical Clinic at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, March 19, 2022. (Photo: Air Force Senior Airman Kimberly Barrera)

MHS GENESIS is now live at Waves Bragg and Wave Hood.

Recommended Content:

MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | Military Health System Transformation | Secure Patient Portals | MHS GENESIS

The New Public Health Director Talks about His Goals for Force Readiness

Article
4/5/2022
Rear Admiral Brandon Taylor of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps in dress whites at the 2019 National Independence Day Parade where he represented the U.S. Surgeon General as a presiding official with the other services. Taylor was named in February as the new director of the Defense Health Agency’s Public Health directorate. (Photo: Tanisha Blaise, Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division senior public relations and media specialist)

Rear Adm. Brandon Taylor was recently appointed to be the new director for the Defense Health Agency’s Public Health directorate. In an interview, he discussed how he is approaching his new role, his goals for Public Health within DHA, and the importance of Public Health to a medically ready force and a ready medical force.

Recommended Content:

Public Health | Health Readiness & Combat Support | Military Health System Transformation

Continuing Implementation for Reform of the Military Health System

Policy

This memorandum directs the continued implementation of the Military Health System organizational reform required by law, extending the authority, direction and control of all military hospitals and clinics not currently under Defense Health Agency authority to the DHA, to include military hospitals and clinics in overseas areas.

How Standing Up Regional Markets is Improving Access to Health Care

Article
1/11/2022
Air Force Maj. Megan George, a registered nurse assigned to the 633d Medical Group based at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, retrieves medical supplies from a storeroom at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, Minnesota during COVID-19 response operations, Dec. 7. The DHA has seen early success in replacing deployed personnel in their assigned markets (Photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael H. Lehman).

Modernizations set in motion in 2021 will optimize care and sharing of medical resources across services and the entire MHS, says U.S. Public Health Service Capt. Tracy Farrill.

Recommended Content:

Military Health System Transformation | DHA Health Care Market Structure | MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | MHS GENESIS
<< < 1 2 3 4 5  ... > >> 
Showing results 1 - 15 Page 1 of 10
Refine your search
Last Updated: January 31, 2023
Follow us on Instagram Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on YouTube Sign up on GovDelivery