Annual Review of Strategic Plan Finalized by Leadership

On Jan. 10, the Military Health System Information Management/Information Technology Strategic Planning community held the first Annual Review of the IM/IT Strategic Plan.

Representatives from the MHS Office of the Chief Information Officer, the Services and the IM community, among others, met for the half-day workshop. The group reviewed the goals and objectives of the original Strategic Plan and measured progress against those goals.

In 2009, leaders from the Services, Health Affairs, TRICARE Management Activity, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joint Task Force National Capital Medical Region and MHS OCIO convened to develop a five year IM/IT Strategic Plan (2010-2015). They agreed on 10 goals, 39 objectives and 14 draft performance measures that focus on optimizing processes and tools to deliver beneficial IT solutions throughout the next five years. In January 2010, the Senior Military Medical Advisory Council approved the MHS IM/IT Strategic Plan making it the first approved plan since 1999.

With the approval of the plan, the community agreed to convene on an annual basis to discuss the plan’s progress and resolve any issues. “Leadership came together to discuss and refine our IM/IT strategy that will help us meet the core objectives of the MHS,” said Air Force Col. Portia Prioleau, acting CIO and lead action officer for the MHS IM/IT Strategic Plan. “The Annual Review sparked collaborative efforts across the IM/IT community toward our common goal – improving our information tools and processes to better support our providers, our war-fighters and their families.”

The Strategic Planning Support Team conducted interviews and surveys prior to the Annual Review workshop to determine topics of interest. Based on these results, the Annual Review targeted four primary objectives: address and discuss changes and/or gaps of goals and objectives; confirm executive sponsorship and ownership of the 13 tactical action plans; develop Service integration and overall collaboration among the Strategic Planning community; and review specific progress of the Electronic Health Record activities (Goal #2) and the Maximize Portfolio Value initiatives (Goal #7).

In addition to addressing these objectives, the community discussed ongoing fiscal year 2011 activities regarding execution of the Strategic Plan. Highlights of the workshop include: a continuation of gathering data to determine progress in accomplishing the goals and objectives; assignment of Service-level points of contact for each action plan to ensure greater integration and collaboration; and a decision was made to brief leadership on a regular basis through integration councils.

For additional information please visit the IM/IT Strategic Plan website at http://www.health.mil/MHSCIO/imitstratplan.aspx.

Enterprise Architecture Communications contributed to this report.