Mc4
Encyclopedia : M : MC : MC4 : Mc4
In 1997, legislation paved the way for the electronic medical record to replace archaic methods such as paper mail and fax. Then President of the United States Bill Clinton directed the Department of Defense (DoD) to establish a new Force Health Protection Program to ensure every Soldier, Sailor, Airman and Marine has a comprehensive, life-long medical record of all illnesses and injuries.
In November 1997, Congress passed a law mandating the DoD to develop a medical tracking system for members deployed overseas. Requirements included capturing service members’ pre- and post-deployment medical conditions and treatments received during contingency operations.
It’s an age-old problem — accounting for soldiers’ medical histories. But by naming Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4) the Army’s solution to this challenge in 1999, the DoD opened the floodgates to a myriad of enhancements and capabilities for deployed medical forces, soldiers and commanders.
"We’re digitizing deployable soldiers’ medical records, improving operational commanders’ medical situational awareness and enabling medical logisticians to efficiently re-supply combat support hospitals — all at the same time," said Lieutenant Colonel Edward Clayson, MC4 Product Manager. "These are just a few features of a system that’s growing exponentially."
MC4 was first deployed in 2003 to support Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and continues to expand to meet Army priorities with enhanced functionalities.
Headquartered at Fort Detrick, Md., MC4 is under the oversight of Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS), at Fort Belvoir, Va.
MC4 in Action
MC4 is a complex system that has joined military leaders, health care and technology experts as the single medical information system supporting deployed forces.MC4 offers deployable medical units a wide range of integrated systems (software and hardware) that bridge the tactical and sustaining base Information Management and Information Technology health care systems.
By utilizing this system, relevant medical data flows vertically throughout levels of health care and to joint medical databases. This enables tactical medical forces the ability to electronically record health services rendered and facilitates theater-wide medical surveillance and trend analysis.
The system also provides pertinent medical information horizontally into the Army Battle Command, Combat Service Support and Communications architecture. As a result, MC4 enables enhanced medical situational awareness for combatant commanders.
Program Management Office (PMO) MC4’s mission is enormous, and requires the knowledge, skills and abilities of professionals and experts throughout a variety of fields.
That is why PMO MC4 partners with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (JHU APL) to perform systems engineering, configuration management and developmental testing. MC4 works with experts from the Titan Corporation to perform systems integration and post-deployment system support. For logistical support, system administration and the training and fielding of new equipment, MC4 relies on Anteon International Corporation’s professionals to accomplish their mission.
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