The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council recently honored the U.S. Army’s Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4) program with the 2008 Top 5 Excellence.gov Award for its impact and improvements on battlefield health care. The top five winners exemplified programs that improved organizational performance by using information technology. Over the past year, MC4 expanded the use of its electronic medical recording (EMR) systems to the U.S. Air Force, fielded an improved inpatient system, and helped implement a new EMR best business practices initiative on the battlefield. It is the program’s third consecutive year being named in the top 20 and its first top 5 award.

“This award illustrates how important it is to invest resources alongside end users,” said LTC Edward Clayson, MC4 Commander and Product Manager. “By continuing to expand our mobile training and support teams on the battlefield, customers get the resources they need to meet the EMR requirement. We’re able to help shape change in the way patient care is recorded and maintained. Standardizing these procedures improves the quality of data captured, which is so critical to clinicians and commanders.”

In 2007, the program expanded to the Pacific Command when it opened a new training and support hub in South Korea. Later that year, MC4 launched a new medical logistics system that allows for the automated restocking and maintaining of critical medical supplies on the front lines and in combat support hospitals.

“MC4’s capturing of 4.8 million electronic health records demonstrates how the program is adding value to the deployed medical community,” said Gary Winkler, Program Executive Officer Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS). “Canvassing the deployed users with training and support has been the key to MC4’s success. They’re delivering on their promise to the customer by committing these resources every step of the way.”

To date, MC4 has trained more than 24,000 medical professionals and has fielded 23,242 systems to the battlefield in support of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, as well as contingency operations worldwide. MC4 integrates, fields, and supports a medical information management system for Army tactical medical forces, enabling a comprehensive, lifelong EMR for all service members and enhancing medical situational awareness for operational commanders. Headquartered at Fort Detrick, MD, MC4 is under the oversight of PEO EIS at Fort Belvoir, VA.

For more information on MC4, visit www.mc4.army.mil. For more information on the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council, visit www.actgov.org.