Department of Defense: Telehealth Use in Fiscal Year 2016
Abstract
The Department of Defense (DOD) provides health care services to 9.4 million active duty servicemembers and other beneficiaries domestically and overseas through its military hospitals, military service clinics, and a civilian network of providers. In some cases, DOD uses telehealth to help provide these services, defining telehealth as the use of telecommunication and information technologies to provide health assessments, treatments, consultations, and other services across distances. Unlike traditional in-person visits, for example, physicians and other providers of telehealth are in one location while patients are in a different location. As an example of telehealth, DOD physicians located in the United States use two-way video to provide health assessments to servicemembers stationed overseas. In 2015, DOD developed a plan to expand the use of telehealth across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and in the National Capital Region and has begun implementing parts of this plan.1 According to DOD, this expansion is intended to help ensure the health of servicemembers by providing access to care for a wider range of conditions and at duty locations and in areas where servicemembers may be injured. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 includes a provision for us to examine several issues related to DODs delivery of health care, such as access to care.2 In this report, we describe DODs use of telehealth for active duty servicemembers and other beneficiaries.3
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 14, 2017
- Accession Number
- AD1167898
Entities
People
- Courtney Liesener
- Jacquelyn Hamilton
- Karin Wallestad
- Kenisha Cantrell
- Krister Friday
- Pamela Dooley
- Randall B. Williamson
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office