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A Congressional mandate to make sure the new Walter Reed National Medical Center is a 'world-class' medical center has converted into a battle of words between the deputy secretary of defense and a completely independent review panel charged with examining the military's development. The brand new Walter Reed medical center is planned to start in 2011 at the university of the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md., under BRAC plan that may shutter Walter Reed Army Medical Center that's six miles away in Washington, D.C. Based on the Protection Health Board's Base Realignment and Final Health Methods Advisory Subcommittee, the Pentagon still needs: A master plan for the region's medical facilities in addition to for the brand new Walter Reed service it self. Continued budget financing for building on the task. To find out who'll maintain charge of the joint service. To create changes to suit the meaning of 'world class,' such as for instance bigger operating facilities and single-patient areas. These results originate from a study presented to the Defense Department on September 2 named 'Reaching World Class: A Completely Independent Overview of the Style Programs for the Walter Reed National Clinic and the Fort Belvoir Neighborhood Clinic.' Pentagon authorities managing the project 'need certainly to determine who's in charge; the power problem needs to be sorted out,' said Ken Kizer, chairman of the Base Realignment and Closing Health Systems Advisory Subcommittee, an team for the Defense Health Board. 'That and the budget and the master plan would be the three vital problems.' On Oct. 15, Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn III wrote a to members of Congress declaring he concurred with the board's conclusions. But, based on Defense Health Board people, Defense authorities appeared to have misunderstood the intention of the statement. 'The important results in the statement show that building must carry on at both Bethesda and Fort Belvoir websites while an extensive master arrange for [Walter Reed] and a [National Capital Region] Integral Delivery System is developed,' Lynn wrote. Protection Health Board people say that's not what the report means at all, and that they were 'dismayed' that Defense Department officials thought the functions as they stand today are 'adequate' after seeing the report. They delivered their very own letter in reaction to Lynn's letter to Congress: 'To be clear, the panel didn't claim that possibly the new building or the complete design strategy as currently organized could create a first class health-related facility,' states the letter from Kizer. 'The panel demonstrably stated that the present ideas weren't those of a global class medical service.' Based on the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act, the Secretary of Defense 'will create and implement an extensive master intend to give adequate first class military medical services and a program of healthcare delivery for the National Capital Region.' But Lynn appeared to argue this is definitely an immediate necessity. 'While Congress has given that the brand new [Walter Reed] and [Fort Belvoir Community Hospital] must certanly be created as world-class military medical services, this isn't a fundamental dependence on the BRAC 2005 recommendations,' Lynn wrote. 'Instead, the growth of those services as world-class medical centers is likely to be a continuing process, requiring constant development and benchmarking to professional guidelines .' Defense Department officials have known concerning the tips since late 2008, although the statement wasn't officially launched until July, Kizer said. They replied in October. Kizer expressed worries that the Pentagon might have misunderstood his subcommittee's suggestions in a to the vice president of the Defense Health Board, Wayne Lednar, on Nov. 13. The panel endorsed the letter, that was been submitted to Lynn. 'The panel likes the [Defense Department's] basic agreement using its results and the department's candor in recognizing that the present programs for the [hospital] won't create a world-class health-related facility,' Kizer wrote. But the letter remains, declaring that the Defense Department lacks the 'feeling of commitment to fixing the identified deficiencies and organizational issues that were identified by the board.' Congress questioned the Defense Health Board, a completely independent advisory team to the Pentagon, to perform the overview of the new service, that'll mix existing structures with new buildings. The panel also worked to find out what 'world-class' means, including information on a service above and beyond what's offered at an average hospital. But area of the issue, Kizer mentioned, is that BRAC income might only be properly used for new buildings. Nevertheless, the master plan should range from the site in general. 'The two procedures need certainly to come together,' Kizer said. 'It is one service. That's not rocket science, however it hasn't occurred.' A few of the report's findings included that surgeons could be needed to travel two surfaces through public places from the operating room to obtain access to muscle individuals pushing individuals to take more time anesthetized and surgeons to have to wash in twice. Kizer said the 17 current operating rooms are about 50 % how big what they have to be because they were constructed based on previous standards, and that only the three new operating rooms might be regarded not only 'planet class,' but achieving the 'state-of-the-art' standards most hospitals require. Simply, Walter Reed Army Medical Center is going from its present digs because of previous structure anything from defective heat and ac to tough plumbing and because of what the brand new service may offer: a 354-bed heart with equipment to treat head accidents and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as equipment to simply help support people with amputations recover. Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...rreed_111709w/