Objective

The objective of this site is to support busy clinicians who are charged with following the post-deployment evaluation and management CPG with a Web-based information repository. This repository will aim to continuously keep clinicians representing a wide range of specialties practicing in a broad array of highly unique military and civilian practice settings abreast of new health knowledge pertaining to any and all United States Armed Forces deployments.

Background

The Institute of Medicine (IoM) defined clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) as "systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care services for specific clinical circumstances."

In 1998, IoM reviewed the health care-based registries that the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) were performing for concerned Gulf War veterans. The IoM recommended making CPGs part of an ongoing quality improvement program targeting the care of Gulf War veterans.

In May 1996, VA Secretary Brown and Defense Secretary Perry sent a joint report to the Vice President entitled, "Strategies for Jointly Improving Veterans Administration (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) Health Systems." One of the recommendations of the report was the development of CPGs as a means of enhancing quality of care and optimizing clinical performance.

DoD has long recognized the development and use of CPGs as a method to enhance quality of care. Currently, policy guidelines for DoD Managed Care, DoD Direct Care, and TRICARE contain language encouraging or mandating their use.

The Army Surgeon General has been designated as the Executive Agent for CPGs by the DoD Health Affairs. He has been tasked to examine and standardize business practices concerning CPGs among the three Services.

Recognizing that the VA has in place a robust methodology for planning, development, and implementation of CPGs, DoD has partnered with the VA and formed a CPG working group. The purpose of this group is to advise the DoD/VA Executive Council on the use of CPGs to improve the quality and to support population health management across the Military Health System (MHS) and VA health system.