More than a decade of combat has placed enormous demands on a generation of Service Members, Veterans, and their families, particularly those who have suffered serious wounds, injuries, or illnesses which require a complex care coordination. These individuals require the coordination of medical and rehabilitation care, benefits, and other services to successfully transition from active duty to Veteran status, and to optimally recover from their illnesses or injuries leading to reintegration either back to their Service or to civilian life.
Their well-being is the highest priority of the U.S. Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Defense (DoD). To meet these demands, in 2012 the DoD-VA Interagency Care Coordination Committee (IC3) was formed to achieve One Mission, One Policy, One Plan, and Atlas Research has supported this important mission from the start.
IC3 oversees implementation of the 2012 VA and DoD Secretaries’ Intent, declaring One Mission, One Policy, One Plan for all Service Members and Veterans requiring complex care coordination. IC3, via its standing work groups, is tasked with developing: 1) a common, interagency, overarching guidance; 2) a Community of Practice (CoP), connecting the DoD and VA clinical and non-clinical case managers of recovering Service Members and Veterans; 3) a single, shared comprehensive plan for each person; and 4) guidance for the establishment of a lead coordinator for Service Members and Veterans to make their experience easier and more coordinated across all stages of recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration.
For the past three years, Atlas Research has provided overall programmatic support to leadership and the Work Groups that are in charge of leading key efforts that will help improve the experience of Service Members and Veterans as they transition back to their Service or over to civilian life as Veterans. Atlas staff plan and facilitate meetings, track and support action items, develop and disseminate strategic communications, and provide strategic advisement to VA and DoD leadership.
Some notable accomplishments over the last few years include:
Planning, coordinating, and facilitating more than 300 committee, subgroup, and work group meetings. Our team helps orchestrate the background activities so leaders in VA and DoD can have productive meetings, make decisions, and continue moving key initiatives forward in order to provide a better experience for Service Members, Veterans, and their families.
Supporting the stand-up and ongoing event management for the IC3 Community of Practice (CoP). This community, made up of more than 50 VA and DoD care coordination programs, brings together leadership in a way they have never gathered before. Through in-person and virtual meetings, tools, and other communications, the CoP helps make the care coordination world smaller, providing a venue to exchange information about each other’s programs, share best practices, and find opportunities to collaborate efforts.
Supporting development of strategic communications and materials to foster awareness of IC3 efforts. Atlas helps VA and DoD develop presentations, briefings, talking points, cabinet reports, toolkits, and e-Bulletins that foster information dissemination and stakeholder engagement in IC3 and IC3’s initiatives. Atlas staff developed and executed a phased IC3 communications and engagement plan to increase CoP participation and engagement. They also coordinated meetings with DoD and VA public affairs officers to develop a plan for synchronous external communications. They produced several “success story” videos that quickly portray the meaning and importance of this effort—helping to increase long-term, system-wide, buy-in and adoption of new interagency coordination processes and tools.
Developed, implemented, and managed the CoP Co-Lab website, the first secure website built for and accessible to DoD and VA care coordinators. This website allows care coordinators to connect in a whole new way. Lead coordinators and care team members can learn more about programs spanning both departments, find and connect with each other with the National Care Coordinator Directory, and search for available care, services, and benefits to help their Service Members and Veterans.
The DoD and VA are making tremendous progress towards synchronizing care for severely wounded and injured Service members and Veterans. The Atlas project team is proud to work on behalf of such an important effort.
| PROJECT QUICK FACTS |
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Title: Interagency Care Coordination Committee (IC3) Program Support Program Manager: Beth Mahan Project Manager: Lisa Collins Atlas Team: Rachel Carrig, Stephanie Mascaro, Kate Viggiano, Noah Wexler What: Provide program management support, strategic management advisement, internal and external communications development and coordination, event/meeting planning and facilitation services When: August 2012 - Present Why: Support the IC3 mission of One Mission, One Policy, One Plan: Improve interagency coordination across the spectrum of care, benefits, and services provided to Service Members, Veterans, and their families as they transition between the two departments and into the civilian community, at all points in their care experience. |