Rear Adm. Kenneth Iverson took the reigns of Navy Medicine East (NME) leadership during a change of command ceremony at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) Dec. 1. Iverson relieved Rear Adm. Terry Moulton, who had been the commander of NME since April 2014.
Vice Adm. Matthew Nathan, Navy surgeon general and chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED), presided over the change of command.
"Our job in Navy Medicine is to tell our most important patient, the one in front of us, 'you'll be safe, you'll get the best quality care. And when the bell rings, we will deploy in harm's way to make a difference when it counts to meet the needs of our nation,' said Nathan.
NME staff and colleagues describe Moulton as a visionary, thought-leader, motivator, accountable, committed and positive.
"You've been a great leader," Nathan said to Moulton. "Congratulations for a tremendous assignment and I look forward to your contributions as deputy surgeon general."
He was responsible for the oversight of NME's 100 care facilities (including NMCP) and public health activities across the United States east and gulf coasts, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cuba and Bahrain. A catalyst for positive change, he led incalculable initiatives across the region to ensure more than one million service members and their families received the best patient experience. At the same time, he ensured the care was delivered in the most effective and efficient manner.
"We have a responsibility to provide our nation's heroes and their families with world-class health care. We also must be good stewards of tax payers dollars by delivering that care in the most efficient and effective way," said Moulton. "And I've had the privilege of collaborating with some of the world's most talented medical professionals who share that vision."
Moulton and his staff improved patient care through the launch of 10 cutting-edge telehealth initiatives focused on pain management, consult management for the fleet and increased access to mental health services. The initiative resulted in more than 1,800 patient encounters, prevented 39 unnecessary medical evacuations from deployed and overseas units, and saved more than $700,000 in recaptured health care costs.
A joint initiative between NMCP and the 633rd Medical Group at Joint Base Langley-Eustis that expands neonatal care capacities at both locations to enhance patient safety and convenience to patients, saved $2.4 million. The U.S. Navy, Army and Defense Health Agency collaboration of staff assigned to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital has a projected saving of $529,000 annually.
NME also oversaw the temporary assignment of over 3,000 personnel to meet 200 U.S. Central, South, Europe, Africa and Pacific command combat, humanitarian and disaster-relief operations and missions. This included providing staffing to support USNS Comfort during Continuing Promise 2015 humanitarian mission to Central and South America and the Caribbean.
In addition to his NME role, he was director of the Tidewater Enhanced Multi-Service Market (eMSM). Of the six eMSMs across the county, Moulton was the only Navy market manager. A multi-service market integrates health care across Navy, Army and Air Force facilities in the same geographic area to provide a seamless continuum of care, improving readiness, recapturing patients getting care outside the military health system when that same service is available by military providers, and ensuring providers have the clinical capabilities and capacity to meet any kind of deployment needed, whether that care is needed on battlefields, above and below the sea or here at home. Under Moulton's leadership, the Tidewater eMSM saved taxpayers $5.1 million in fiscal year 2015.
Since his commission in 1983, Moulton, a native of Nashville, Tenn., has been selected for various executive, operational management and health care business roles in support of Navy Medicine.
Iverson, a native of Longview, Texas, takes the NME helm after serving as deputy chief of medical operations at BUMED for two years.
NME is one of three regional commands that manage Navy Medicine's global health care network. It oversees the effectiveness and efficiency of the delivery of medical, dental and other health care services to approximately one million patients across almost 100 facilities in the U.S. (East and Gulf coasts), Spain, Italy, Greece, Cuba and Bahrain. Its public health activities extend globally.
For more news from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, visit www.navy.mil/.


For more news from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, visit www.navy.mil/.