The Army’s Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4) Product Manager LTC William Geesey will receive the 2012 Federal Computer Week (FCW) Federal 100 Award, which recognizes government individuals for forward-thinking and vision in the federal information technology (IT) community. MC4 integrates, fields, trains and supports IT systems that allow deployable medical staff to document and track patient care, digitally manage medical supplies and conduct health surveillance in the combat zone.
The Army’s Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS), Fort Belvoir, VA, oversees the MC4 Product Management Office headquartered at Fort Detrick, MD.
In 2011, Geesey, who has served as MC4’s longest tenured product manager, led efforts to field an innovative technology solution to digitally connect remote Soldiers with mental health specialists in support of the Army’s suicide prevention campaign. This telehealth capability significantly improved Army mental health providers’ ability to conduct private, virtual medical consultations with at-risk Soldiers deployed to remote combat and forward operating bases. The Army surgeon general reported that 70 percent of Soldiers in Afghanistan and 89 percent of Soldiers in Iraq seen through MC4’s telehealth capability would not have received services otherwise. Since, the Army vice chief of staff has directed rapid expansion of the capability in Afghanistan.
“Telehealth is a capability that is enduring and has proven to be a valuable tool health care providers cannot live without on the battlefield,” Geesey said. “We’re going to continue to evolve this capability, using technology to extend the medical forces’ reach to Soldiers in need.”
To date, MC4 has equipped more than 85 garrison battalion aid stations resulting in the electronic capture and transmission of more than 79,000 patient encounters and the abandonment of inefficient paper-based practices, while enabling re-deployed units to continue to “train as you fight” on the MC4 system prior to deployment.
This is the third time MC4 has been honored with the Fed 100 Award, and the second time awarded to MC4’s product manager. Geesey will be one of four recipients featured in the March 30 edition of Federal Computer Week magazine.
For more information on MC4, visit www.mc4.army.mil.