Historical evolution of medical quality assurance in the Department of Defense.
The Department of Defense (DoD) Military Health System (MHS) embodies decades of health care practice that has evolved in scope and complexity to meet the demands for quality care to which its beneficiaries are entitled. War, Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), and other dynamic forces require the ongoing review and revision of health care policy and practice in military hospitals as well as the expanded network of civilian providers who care for our nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines and their families. The result has been an incrementally constructed quality assurance (QA) program with emphasis on organizational structures, programs, and systems, and the use of robust data sources and standard measures to analyze and improve processes, manage disease, assess patient perceptions of care, and ensure that a uniform health care benefit and high quality health care is accessible to all MHS beneficiaries.
Granger
Elder
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Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Health Affairs, TRICARE Management Activity, 5111 Leesburg Pike, Suite 810, Falls Church, VA 22041-3206, USA.
Boyer
John
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Weiss
Richard
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Linton
Andrea
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Williams
Thomas V
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D006077:Government Agencies / Q000266:history*; D006291:Health Policy / Q000266:history / Q000639:trends; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000266:history / Q000639:trends; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000266:history* / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000266:history* / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States