Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
MMT 2010 Volume: 14 Issue: 4 (June)
Contract to Develop Tests for Multiple Flu Strains
Idaho Technology Inc. has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command to develop tests for multiple flu strains on the Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System (JBAIDS). The JBAIDS instrument, already widely deployed across the globe, and the suite of flu tests that will result from this effort will be used to test military personnel and their families for Influenza A and B, and subtypes of A.
Philip Maggi: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Federal Virtual Worlds Award
Three Wire Systems LLC’s VetAdvisor Virtual Room won the U.S. Army Simulation & Training Technology Center’s Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge for best collaboration in a virtual world by a government contractor. The award was presented on the final day of the Defense GameTech Users’ Conference in Orlando.
Dan Frank, managing partner, Three Wire Systems, explained the VetAdvisor Virtual Room is an expansion of the successful VetAdvisor Support Program with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which offers telehealth and virtual health delivery platforms for veteran mental health care. “The program is designed to provide support when and where the veteran chooses, thus supporting the Veteran Centered Medical Home Care Model.”
Providing a secure meeting place for veterans and care coaches (licensed behavior health professionals) to interact, the VetAdvisor Virtual Room features avatars representing both the veterans and care coaches. Frank pointed out the avatars and the room can be personalized to the veteran’s hobbies and interests while providing real-time interaction.
During GameTech, VetAdvisor introduced its One-to-Many model, wherein veterans can join other veterans within structured coaching sessions for support in subjects such as anger management, weight management, smoking cessation and other self-help programs.
Three Wire collaborated with Teleplace to deliver the private, virtual meeting places where veterans and care coaches can explore ideas, resolve issues, track progress and assist with achieving goals.
Dan Frank: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
CIDM Software Platform Enhancements Described
Decision Lens’ software platform is the basis for the Military Health System’s Capital Investment Decision Model (CIDM), being used to prioritize the department’s medical military construction projects. Vice Admiral Adam Robinson, the Navy’s surgeon general, provided one service’s insights on CIDM. Robinson told a 2009 House Armed Services Committee subcommittee hearing that CIDM “was used in the programming and budgeting for MILCON projects slated for construction projects beginning with FY 2010.” He pointed out that the system “serves all the services by carefully evaluating proposed medical MILCON projects through a rigorous capital investment prioritization method across the entire enterprise,” and added that the significant changes in prioritizing MILCON capital investments in medical facilities “yielded positive outcomes for Navy medicine.”
John Saaty, CEO, Decision Lens, told MMT that in the software platform, the company developed a common set of criteria for the services and TRICARE program, and prioritized the department’s investments in medical facilities. “We break these decisions into discrete comparisons—you are going to say this is three or four times as important on this side or that side. Through this process you can actually develop that set of priorities,” he added.
This September, Decision Lens will introduce the next generation of its software platform. The product enhancement will allow organizations to integrate leaderships’ decisions across the decision-making process. Saaty pointed out that this new capability was in response to his customers’ evolving requirements. “A lot of the organizations, including DoD, have told us, ‘We want the senior guys to set priorities. We want those priorities to ripple down through all the decisions made across organizations. In the case of DoD, that includes the Military Health System and the services. But we need a tiered structure to actually implement decision-making as a better process across the organization—not just a stand alone decision within a decision model.’”
Saaty disclosed that the next version of the software platform will provide a tiered organizational connection among decisions.
Decision Lens’ software platform is being eyed to support the DoD medical community’s facility portfolio and technologies that are used to deliver health care. This latter area would include “the design of new hospitals—what we call evidence based research,” Saaty said. He continued, “There is statistical information that says if we rubberize floors, you actually can prevent the two largest injury types in hospitals” Key decisions in the facility design process would prioritize how money is spent for these systems and their supporting subsystems.
John Saaty: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it