The Gastroenterology Department (GI clinic) is one of the many clinics that has done its best to make the merge of hospitals, servicemembers and staff members as smooth as possible.

The clinics at both NNMC and WRAMC have been working closely together for several years before they were officially instructed to do so per BRAC law, said Gary Logeman, a charge nurse in NNMC’s gastroenterology clinic. Fellows from both the Air Force and the Army are constantly rotating between the two clinics.

“Working with the fellows from the Air Force and the Army is rewarding because you get to see their perspective from their service’s side so that way you’re not just zoned in on the Navy side,” Logeman said.

Integrating clinic staff members and resources is a key component in combining NNMC and WRAMC to become the future of military medicine, the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

“From a people stand point, we’ve been working with Walter Reed very closely for years,” said Lt. Cmdr. Scott Itzkowitz, department head of the Gastroenterology Department at NNMC. “One of the biggest successes is that the [GI clinic] has been able to hand pick its core staff from the two medical facilities in regards to their individual skill sets.”

This year, Army Col. Roy Wong was named chief of the Integrated Gastroenterology Department.

Once integration is complete and the future Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is operating, providers will no longer have to travel back and forth between the two clinics, Itzkowitz said. With everything under one roof, it will be easier for both care providers and patients.

“We’ll be able to have individual skill sets at one facility instead of having to push people from one point to another. We’ll be able to focally have the best here at one place,” he said.

In addition to ensuring staff members at both hospitals have their credentials, the integrated clinics are also working to bring back jobs that have been outsourced.

“I think we will have the capability and staffing to be able to offer high quality care that saves the government money overall and rivals anything,” Itzkowitz said.