News & Information - The Mercury - September 2009 Mercury

by Jerry Harben
U.S. Army Medical Command

	Excalibur Award (Courtesy graphic)

Units of Medical Command with exceptional initiatives to improve efficiency and delivery of health-care support to the Army were recognized with The Surgeon General’s annual Excalibur Awards during the Army Medical Symposium.

Task Force 62nd Medical Brigade was honored for its Warrior Combat Healthcare Support System at Camp Victory, Iraq. This system developed objectives, initiatives and measures of performance for medical units in Iraq. Benefits included a 97.5 percent patient survival rate, fewer evacuations out of theater, complete implementation of an electronic medical record, a nurse case-management team to manage chronic health problems of detainees, an integrated surgical and hospitalization workload analysis system and training 957 Iraqi health-care professionals.

Fort Campbell, Ky., MEDDAC was recognized for an initiative to improve breast cancer screening. Women were allowed to self-refer for annual mammograms before wellness exams. This was accompanied by a public awareness campaign including printed articles, a PX wellness booth, a women’s health fair and about 400 reminder letters mailed each month. About 176 women use self-referral mammography each month, helping the MEDDAC exceed HEDIS benchmarks for breast cancer screening as well as cervical cancer screening.

An Excalibur Award was presented to the Army Health Facility Planning Agency for process improvements that cut in half the time for planning new health facilities required for transformation initiatives. In Fiscal Year 2008, planning for seven military construction projects was completed for a total value of $1.381 billion. Cost avoidance was estimated at $221 million.

The AMEDD Professional Management Command was cited for consolidating Soldier readiness processing and greatly improving the number of Reserve medical professionals deemed deployable for 90-day rotations. Initiatives include providing basic life support training and certification, and immediate credentialing validation for gaining units. APMC processed 763 Soldiers with a 98 percent deployable success rate at mobilization stations.

From the September 2009 Mercury, an Army Medical Department publication.