Telemedicine and Business Process Redesign at the Department of Defense

Abstract

This case is designed to relate the rationale used by the Department of Defense and the Test and Evaluation (T&E) Integrated Product Team, in order to determine the military utility of the Joint Medical Operations – Telemedicine Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (JMO-T ACTD). The case also develops critical operational issues (COI) and measures of effectiveness (MOE) as methodologies for investigating military utility of telemedicine. In order to meet increasing global crises, the U.S. military must find ways to more effectively manage manpower and time. Joint Medical Operations –Telemedicine (JMO-T) has been developed by the Department of Defense (DOD) to collect and transmit near-real-time, far-forward medical data and to assess how this improved capability enhances medical management of the battlespace. JMO-T has been successful in resolving uncertain organizational and technological military deficiencies and in improving medical communications and information management. The deployable, mobile telemedicine teams are the centerpieces of JMO-T. These teams have the capability of inserting essential networking and communications capabilities into austere theaters and establishing an immediate means for enhancing health protection, collaborative planning, situational awareness, and strategic decision-making. This case also focuses on developing a holistic model of transformation. The model synthesizes current thinking on transformation into a holistic model and also explains the integrative influence of vision on the other four model components—environment, people, methodology, and IT perspective.. The model was tested by T&E on the JMO-T ACTD. JMO-T ACTD has developed a very successful training program and is very aware of the importance of planned change. Top military officials are actively involved in change and are committed to people development through learning. The model served an applied purpose by allowing us to see how well the military organization fit current theory. The model also fit a theoretical purpose by organizing a holistic, comprehensive framework. Accordingly, we have organized and synthesized the literature into five interrelated components that act as a fundamental guide for research. The model also helped us to identify a theoretical link and apply it to the internal operations of the military.