VA, DOD joint health projects bring nearly $6 million to Keesler Published Sept. 18, 2007 By Susan Griggs 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- The Department of Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense Health Executive Council has approved two joint incentive fund proposals for Keesler Medical Center and the VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi. The total cost of the JIF projects for the joint cardiac care center and the magnetic resonance imaging center is $5.92 million. "The joint cardiac care center JIF at Keesler Medical Center will modernize the existing angiography suite to serve as a dual cardiac catherization laboratory and peripheral angiography suite," according to Lt. Col. Richard Rowe, director and chief of federal integration for the Gulf Coast Multi Service Market Office at Keesler. "This capability will be shared between cardiology, radiology and vascular surgery, greatly improving efficiency, capability and patient safety. "This project will recapture virtually all of current Air Force and VA purchased care for cardiac catherization and coronary intervention procedures done through the skin, without having to perform open-heart surgery, and associated outpatient costs from our Tricare network of civilian providers (and the VA equivalent)," he continued. Funds will be used to buy equipment, renovate existing space and hire contract staff. "Almost all heart, peripheral vascular and carotid procedures can now be performed in a minimally-invasive way, using a variety of state-of-the-art techniques to include balloon dilation, stent implantation, laser procedures and direct removal of cholesterol plaque and debris," said Maj. (Dr.) Steve Kindsvater, chief of the 81st Medical Operations Squadron's cardiovascular services. "The new angio/cath lab suite greatly improves our capability to perform these procedures. It also improves our ability to implant pacemakers, defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy for our beneficiaries," he added. The magnetic resonance imaging center JIF project recaptures most of the current Air Force and VA MRI workload currently being performed in the network, Colonel Rowe stated. "Funding will be used to hire contract technicians to operate a 3.0 Tesla MRI machine that Keesler Medical Center already has -- the most advanced MRI machine in the region," he said. "Funding is also included to hire a contract radiologist to interpret the MRI results." Charles Sepich, director of the VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System, said, "We have a long history of sharing with the 81st Medical Group at Keesler, and this is a great example of expanding services through innovative initiatives to better serve both veterans and DOD patients." The JIF between the VA and DOD was created by Congress to encourage development of sharing initiatives at the facility, intraregional and national level. JIF projects compete annually for developmental dollars. Projects must benefit both the DOD and VA parties and support the VA/DOD Joint Strategic Plan. They must improve quality and access to care for VA and DOD beneficiaries and demonstrate a positive return on investment so they're self-sustaining in two years. Successful JIF projects are awarded "seed money" to outfit, equip or staff a clinic or project. After two years, the clinic or project must recapture enough workload that formerly would have gone to the civilian network to sustain the salaries and other costs associated to make that clinic or project run.