Navy Surgeon General Charts Strategic Course for Navy Medicine

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy's top doctor released his strategy map for the future of Navy Medicine on his headquarters' website, Oct. 1.

Readiness, value and jointness were the three clear priorities or goals laid out for Navy Medicine in the plan titled, "Navy Medicine: Charted Course."

Vice Adm. Matthew L. Nathan, U.S. Navy surgeon general and chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, chose the date for release to coincide with the new fiscal year for the Department of Defense representing a new way of thinking and a new way of conducting business for the community he leads. Navy Medicine is the second largest community in the Navy with more than 63,000 personnel dispersed globally.

"We live in dynamic times," said Nathan to the top military and civilian health care executives in the Navy, during a workshop aimed at fine-tuning his priorities last week. "We must concentrate on bringing more value and jointness while maintaining the high state of medical readiness for our naval forces that our nation demands. When the world dials 9-1-1, it is not to make an appointment."

Each of the goals of value, readiness and jointness have measurements and metrics assigned to them to track their success which will continue to be assessed and evaluated over the next year. For example, one of the metrics that will be tracked for the value goal includes enrollee network costs and the ability of Navy medical treatment facilities to recapture out of network care.

All three goals also have strategic enabling objectives included to help accomplish them.

According to the plan, "Strategic enablers help organizations achieve the success of a goal or objective. For example, Navy Medicine is a strategic enabler for the Department of the Navy because it delivers force health protection and a ready force able to meet mission."

The plan maps out a course for achieving the value, readiness and jointness goals through optimizing the use of medical informatics, technology and telemedicine, standardizing clinical, non-clinical and business processes, and improving strategic communication and message alignment across the enterprise.

"Medical informatics and use of telemedicine solutions will create efficiencies and improve responsiveness to the needs of [Navy Medicine's] stakeholders and customers. This in turn adds value and improves overall readiness," according to the plan.

Nathan also used the plan to reiterate his guiding principles for all Navy Medicine which he conveyed to the enterprise in a video message earlier this year.

"I want to talk about the philosophy I've had ever since I've been in command and if you've worked for me before, you've heard it," said Nathan in his video message. "It's ship, shipmate, self - take care of the ship, take care of each other, take care of yourself."

According to Nathan, the "ship" is the mission, whether it be caring for patients or creating a new vaccine or properly training and equipping our next group of corpsmen. He said "shipmate" represents his expectation that all Navy Medicine personnel be vigilant to the needs and actions of those they serve with, always preserving the ethos and professionalism that are the pinnacle of Navy Medicine. Finally, the "self" is important because Nathan believes Navy Medicine personnel cannot care for others and meet the mission if they are not first caring for themselves.

"Asking for help is a sign of strength," according to the guiding principles laid out in the Navy Medicine plan. "You must constantly reflect on your own needs and those of your family. Speak up so we can better equip you to meet the challenges you are facing."

The plan also highlighted the importance of self-reflection and awareness as a critical part of successful leadership.

Navy Medicine's complete mission and vision including the strategy map and accompanying documents is available online at: http://www.med.navy.mil/Pages/MissionandVision.aspx

Navy Medicine is a global health care network of more than 63,000 Navy medical personnel around the world who provide high quality health care to more than one million eligible beneficiaries. Navy Medicine personnel deploy with Sailors and Marines worldwide, providing critical mission support aboard ship, in the air, under the sea and on the battlefield.



For more news from Navy Medicine, visit www.navy.mil/local/mednews/.