The Defense Health Agency is deploying artificial intelligence and virtual healthcare technology as it looks to a future battlefield where traditional medicine may not be possible.
The Military health system is already using virtual healthcare capabilities that allow specialists to provide remote consultation to battlefield medics. The technology enables real-time guidance for complex procedures that might have been impossible without immediate specialist presence.
Dr. Stephen Ferrera, acting assistant secretary for Health Affairs, said the military health system is fundamentally rethinking how it delivers care in wartime environments, particularly as the Pentagon shifts focus to regions where vast distances could complicate traditional battlefield medicine.
“We are the only health care system in America that goes to war. And so, our North Star always has to be that we are ready to provide first-class, world-class health care to our service members, to our warfighters, should we have to go into harm’s way,” Ferrara said on Federal Monthly Insights – Health IT.
