There are real people behind that MC4 logo who help make things happen here. One of them is Bill Weed, MC4's business director and former operations director, who over the past seven years has overseen all programmatic, business and contractual activities for MC4. He's served as the man behind the curtain to getting things done. Bill joined the program in 2004 and has been a tremendous asset to program. Unfortunately, he will be departing MC4 for a new job in the next few weeks, but I wanted to take this opportunity to recognize his contributions to the program.
Bill was a part of MC4's early efforts in Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. He took the lead in implementing, training and fielding MC4's then initial electronic medical record (EMR) and medical logistics (MEDLOG) systems to the battlefield. During that time he also oversaw the analysis, planning, ordering, execution and fielding of more than 48,000 MC4 systems to more than 2,400 medical units.
Moreover, Bill had a strong hand in the growth of the organization and system use, from opening new offices in the U.S., Europe and Korea to supporting the Air Force’s and Navy's use of MC4 through late 2009, to continuously expanding capabilities delivered to Soldiers on the frontlines. Throughout, Bill has followed through—often deploying to theater to personally oversee MC4 support operations and to ensure customer requirements were met satisfactorily.
In an effort to support MC4's expanded use, Bill obtained funding and expanded the size of MC4’s training and technical workforce to enhance customer assistance. As a result of his leadership, Army medical units have been able to better document health care downrange, evidenced in the 17 million-plus electronic patient encounters, and more impressive—users have taken ownership of the system and mission.
Always a leader and out in front of issues, Bill led development and fielding of the Army’s digital version of the electronic post deployment health assessment (ePDHA) on the MC4 system. Within six months of the Army’s Office of the Surgeon General calling for a digital health assessment tool to enable physicians the ability to better identify PTSD and TBI, Bill secured the funding and had ePDHA built and deployed.
Bill also played a significant role in our highly successful telebehavioral health pilot. He led a team to Afghanistan to work out the challenges associated with standing up this initial capability. Deployed medical units now have the critical capabilities such as telebehavioral health to conduct consultations with remote Soldiers and telesurgery to consult with specialists during complex surgical procedures.
In short, Bill has really helped put MC4 on the map, literally, and in doing so has improved the lives of many benefiting from the use of MC4 downrange. Please join me in wishing him a proper MC4 farewell.