PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER GOULAIT
V E TE R AN S AFFAI R S & M I LITARY M E D I CI N E O UTLO O K
would we develop a duplicate supply chain management solution when we’ve got one in the federal space that has been proven already? As I said, we can leverage their knowledge, experience, and expertise to bring improved business practices to the VA.” Original plans called for the VHA to conduct the DMLSS rollout and implementation over a seven-year period. However, Kramer noted that, during 2020 testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee of Veterans’ Affairs, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., requested that the program be accelerated. As a result, the implementation plan now involves a five-year rollout, with DMLSS deployment to be completed across the entire system in 2025. Asked about interim milestones that might be achieved over the next 12 months, Kramer began her answer with recognition that “COVID gets a vote right now.” Against that caveat, she expressed a desire to roll out DMLSS starting with facilities in VISN (Veterans Integrated Service Networks) 20 (Washington state, Alaska, and Oregon) over the coming year. “It’s going to depend on what COVID does,” she repeated. “But hopefully
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Then-Defense Logistics Agency Director Army Lt. Gen. Darrell Williams (seated, right) signs an interagency agreement between DLA and the Department of Veterans Affairs with then-VA Secretary Robert Wilkie (seated, left) at the VA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., Aug. 12, 2019.
we’re going to continue to see some of the positive trends we are seeing in terms of lower disease rates and increased vaccination rates. That would mean that we would be able to go out and do the training and the implementation of DMLSS in each of these sites.” From the perspective of veterans, the implementation of DMLSS should be transparent. Offering her own logistics adage, Kramer said, “When everything’s going well, nobody thinks about logistics. You don’t need to, because it works.” But that doesn’t mean that the veterans won’t see the system benefits in other ways. “Much of what we’ve talked about to this point gives the management perspective on DMLSS,” Kramer said. “But when you think about it from the
veteran’s perspective, having true visibility means that we will have a better awareness of what is going on throughout the VHA medical supply chain. You can actually have things like early warning indicators. If something is going on in the supply chain, or if the supply levels were to come down, we would know and be able to implement alternative strategies to ensure our clinical staff have what they need to care for veterans. We will be able to see the volume of what we’re buying enterprisewide, and that will give us the information we need to be more effective and efficient with the dollars taxpayers give to us. With DMLSS, we will have the data and information we need for better decision-making at the facility, VISN, and enterprise levels.” Centineo echoed many similar thoughts in his own message to veterans about the significance of DMLSS, stating, “We are going to obtain new efficiencies here. And those efficiencies will allow us to achieve some cost avoidance. And those dollars that we did not spend because we eliminated so many inefficient practices can now be poured back into veteran health care.”
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