Since the fall of 2009, the Quadruple Aim, adopted from the unifying construct of the Triple Aim from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement(IHI; http://www.ihi.org/offerings/Initiatives/TripleAim/Pages/default.aspx),

has served as the MHS strategic framework, and remains relevant in describing our priorities and strategies for the coming years.  During FY 2012, senior MHS leaders agreed to begin FY 2013 by explicitly emphasizing in the Quadruple Aim the desired direction of improvement: toward increased readiness, better care, better health in our population and at lower costs to the Department and the MHS.

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Readiness means ensuring that the total military force is medically ready to deploy and that the medical force is ready to deliver health care anytime, anywhere in support of the full range of military operations, including humanitarian missions.

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Our goal is to reduce the frequency of visits to our military hospitals and clinics by keeping the people we serve healthy. We are moving “from health care to health” by reducing the generators of ill health by encouraging healthy behaviors and decreasing the

likelihood of illness through focused prevention and the development of increased resilience.

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We are proud of our track record—but there is more to accomplish. We will provide a care experience that is safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable, and patient- and family-centered.

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To lower costs, we will create value by focusing on quality, eliminating waste, and reducing unwarranted  variation; we will consider the total cost of care over

time, not just the cost of an individual health care activity. There are both near-term opportunities to become more agile in our decision making and

longer-term opportunities to change the trajectory of  cost growth through a healthier population.