21-09-iFH: interoperable Field Hospital (iFH)

The overall objective of the interoperable Field Hospital (iFH) is to create a tactical local area medical network to seamlessly receive, capture, and process secure medical information within deployed Medical Treatment Facilities (MTFs). The future operating environments, threats, and challenges envisioned in all domain operations (ADO) demand a tactical medical architecture that brings order to the complexities of the operating environment and provides operational commanders and medical staff with data to make informed decisions, increase patient survivability, and decrease morbidity from wounds suffered in the battlespace.

The prototype developed under this RPP will fill these operational requirements by capturing data from field medical elements, Medical Evacuation (MEDEVAC) platforms, medical devices, patient monitors, and Medical Logistics (MEDLOG) databases in order to provide clinicians with the data required to make informed clinical decisions. The effective aggregation, analysis, and visualization of these data will eliminate the reliance on time intensive and manual processes and reduce burden to medical providers in order to increase efficiency when treating mass casualties (MASCAL) from a Combined / Joint force.

This RPP aims to establish a prototype that creates a tactical interoperable field hospital environment that is able to integrate with existing DoD tactical vehicle systems and deployed medical devices into a secure LAN. The proposed solution shall provide networking communications for medical devices in support of overall iFH implementation. iFH will have connectivity to existing DoD networks supporting operation in austere environments. The system must (by the end of the proposed period of performance) be able to accommodate up to three hundred patient monitors and up to twelve hundred connected medical devices in a deployed MTF.

The DoD has identified two tasks for funding under this RPP:

  • Task 1: The iFH prototype shall create a LAN that builds the interoperable system that seamlessly receives, captures, and processes secure medical information within deployed Roles 1-3 facilities via DoD tactical networks supporting multiple software services.
  • Task 2: The iFH prototype shall provide a platform for the ingestion of inbound and outbound data, and the integration of existing traumatic brain injury (TBI) assessment tools to facilitate communication between mobile health applications (MHAs), existing DoD software, and additional neurological assessments performed by military medical personnel. Proposal will be evaluated on the Offeror’s ability to integrate the continuous flow of automated medical data with neurological, psychological, and brain function assessments performed by deployed military personnel, TBI assessment tools, and existing DoD software on a secure LAN.

The research project award recipient was selected from the Offerors who responded to MTEC’s Request for Project Proposals (21-09-iFH).

interoperable Field Hospital (iFH)

Project Team: Integration Innovation, Inc. (i3)

Award Amount: $4.85M

Project Duration: 60 months

Project Objective: i3 will prototype a secure FIPS 140-2 compliant, scalable, wireless LAN system which seamlessly receives, captures, and processes secure medical information via our open architecture interface, from existing medical devices within deployed Roles 1-3 facilities. This system will be integrated with DoD tactical networks and support multiple software services, providing the customer with an adaptable system capable of integrating with emerging technology. Software development will be conducted in a collaborative cloud environment allowing for the TBI assessment tool and third-party MHAs to integrate with iFH dashboard and EUD applications, enabling a real-time, continuous flow of inbound and outbound automated medical data including neurological, psychological, and brain function assessments. iFH development will be integrated onto a Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) enabled system allowing data to be exchanged between iFH and the DoD software.