The U.S. Department of Defense reports that “as she prepares to step down Jan. 20, the Defense Department’s top medical official reflected on her five-and-a-half year tenure at the Pentagon, notably a comprehensive review of the Military Health System.”

“Dr. Karen S. Guice, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, performing the duties of the assistant secretary for health affairs, focused the MHS review on the safety and quality of health care in military treatment facilities, which provides health care for more than 9.6 million beneficiaries.”

“’That’s something that we can look back on as collaborative, good work that really has set a trajectory of improvement for the military health system,’ Guice said in a DoD News interview.”

“Guice explained that the services, Health Affairs and the Defense Health Agency worked together to develop a way of assessing the Military Health System from the patient’s perspective in terms of access, quality of care and expectations. ‘It was a hallmark event, but it was a collective effort that we all contributed to,’ she said.”