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Navy Medicine Info Systems Center Relocates to San Antonio

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS081028-02
Release Date: 10/28/2008 6:27:00 AM

By Larry Coffey, Navy Medicine Support Command Public Affairs

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (NNS) -- The Navy Medicine Information Systems Support Activity (NAVMISSA) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 21 to celebrate the command's arrival in San Antonio.

Navy Medicine's IM/IT center was reorganized from the Naval Medical Information Management Center in Bethesda, Md., to NAVMISSA Sept. 1 and continues steps to become fully operational in San Antonio.

Rear Adm. Richard Vinci, commander, Navy Medicine Support Command (NMSC), served as guest speaker and spoke about the NAVMISSA team accomplishments and future changes. NMSC is NAVMISSA's parent command.

"Capt. [Tina] Ortiz (NAVMISSA commanding officer) has led a talented, hard-working team of what I affectionately call 'electronic brainiacs,'" Vinci said. "The team is aligning NAVMISSA with the DoD Military Health System and TMA (Tricare Management Activity). Their hard work will ultimately pay off with superior information systems products and services across Navy medicine."

Providing information systems products and services to Navy medicine is NAVMISSA's mission. NAVMISSA also protects Navy medicine networks through an effective information assurance program that ensures customer privacy, Ortiz said.

NAVMISSA is projected to employ 149 people when the command is fully operational in San Antonio in April 2009 and the Bethesda detachment is closed. The majority of the staff is expected to be hired from the San Antonio area.

Ortiz said there are several benefits to the San Antonio relocation. Relocating to San Antonio places NAVMISSA geographically close to its Army and Air Force service partners but still allows it to remain a separate command. Economic benefits include the ability to attract and retain the right work force while realizing significant cost-of-living reductions when compared to the Washington area.

There will also be benefits to Navy medicine, said Patricia Craddock, the NMSC M-5 deputy chief of staff who is responsible for NAVMISSA.

"As NAVMISSA transitions to San Antonio, they will rebuild the organization using a new organization map that will be more agile and capable of responding to the customer's needs," Craddock said. "The new organizational structure will offer stronger program management, which will match the requirements of a system based on the phase of its lifecycle – development and deployment, sustainment or retirement, for instance."

For more news from Navy Medicine Support Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/nmsc/.