HomeNewsArticle Display

Director says Defense Health Agency wants to elevate care at all MTFs

By Senior Airman Sean Sweeney, 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs / Published May 22, 2019

Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, Defense Health Agency director, discusses her vision for the transition of all CONUS MTFs to the authority, direction, and control of the DHA on Oct. 1, during a town hall with the 20th Medical Group, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., May 1, 2019.
PHOTO DETAILS  /   DOWNLOAD HI-RES 1 of 2

Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, Defense Health Agency director, discusses her vision for the transition of all CONUS MTFs to the authority, direction, and control of the DHA on Oct. 1, during a town hall with the 20th Medical Group, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., May 1, 2019. Bono visited Shaw to meet with senior leaders to discuss the medical needs of the commanders and beneficiary population as well as discuss changes coming to military health care on Oct. 1, when all MTFs in the continental United States transition to the authority, direction, and control of the DHA. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Sean Sweeney)

A U.S. Air Force Airman asks Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, Defense Health Agency director, a question during a town hall at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., May 1, 2019.
PHOTO DETAILS  /   DOWNLOAD HI-RES 2 of 2

A U.S. Air Force Airman asks Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, Defense Health Agency director, a question during a town hall at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., May 1, 2019. Bono answered questions from base medical providers and discussed her vision for the transition of all MTFs in the continental United States to the authority, direction, and control of the DHA on Oct. 1, 2019. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Sean Sweeney)

PRINT | E-MAIL
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --

U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, Defense Health Agency director, visited the 20th Medical Group to talk about the future of military medicine May 1, at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.

During her visit, Bono met with senior leaders, base medical providers and community partners to talk about upcoming changes designed to improve health care for service members, retirees and their families.

“We recognize that each of these bases and installations has very unique skill sets and operational mission requirements,” said Bono. “So I wanted to be able to talk to the senior mission commander, and I wanted to be able to talk to the leadership here at the [military treatment facility] to make sure we were covering all of those bases.”

Bono added that DHA also wanted to improve the services each medical facility would be able to provide, without hindering the specific needs of each individual unit.


“We were able to talk to (the wing commander) in terms of making sure his operational mission continues to be supported and that we would not only keep the level of care he is already receiving at its current level, but we want to be able to elevate the care.”


DHA is aiming to bring the cohesiveness of working side-by-side with each branch of service from downrange to the level of care provided back at each individual home station.

“I find when we are working together in real-time, while we are in garrison, we are just training the way we fight,” said Bono.

The medical providers are able to enhance their operational readiness, by working hand-in-hand with sister services to learn their tactics, training and procedures, she said.

Bono added that it keeps the health care providers more mission-capable for whenever operational mission commanders call.

“A great opportunity that we have here with our military health system transition is to really challenge ourselves on some of our conventional solutions and get to more innovative ways of taking care of our patients, and being able to design our system so it really meets the needs of our patients,” said Bono. “This is a golden opportunity that, from what I can tell from my visit here at Shaw, people share my enthusiasm for that.”

During her visit, Bono held a town hall to answer questions from the 20th Medical Group staff on military medical care and DHA’s plans for the future.

“She came here to talk to us because she values what we do as the frontline operators, every day, taking care of patients,” said Col. Christian Lyons, 20th Medical Group commander. He told staff gathered for the town hall that on any given day, Bono could be on Capitol Hill appearing before Congress, meeting with other senior leaders at the Pentagon, or countless other tasks he said were like “herding cats” because of the complexity of leading the DHA during a period of significant change.

While at Shaw, Bono received feedback on how the policies in place are affecting mission readiness and how the level of care looks moving forward.

“My biggest takeaway is people are very excited about the opportunity to try something new in how we are doing health care,” said Bono. “They also recognize that working across the services might lead to some benefits not only in the care of our patients, but also in our ability to train the way we fight.”

Bono added that going forward, she hopes providers continue to give DHA ideas on how they can make sure we have the very best health care system.

DHA senior leaders plan to visit MTFs transitioning from the Army, Navy and Air Force to help with a smooth transition to the DHA’s administration and management. Bono believes the changes happening now will lead to even better health care for military members, retirees and their families.

“I see the future of military medicine setting the example for the rest of the United States health care system,” said Bono. “I think we are that capable, I think we have the right kind of expertise, we have the right kind of talent, we have the senior leadership support and we have our patients’ best interest at heart. So I think the military health system is poised to be the best health care system anywhere.”