Travis Dalton serves as the first president of Cerner Government Services, overseeing more than 5,000 Cerner associates and 40 partner companies working to provide the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs with a new, interoperable electronic health record.
With more than 1,955 sites of care serving 18 million service members, veterans and beneficiaries, these programs combined make up the largest, most complex health IT modernization in history — and for decades prior, DOD and VA have struggled to establish shared systems and technology to efficiently share critical health data.
Under Dalton’s leadership, Cerner has delivered major program accomplishments contributing to measurable improvements in patient safety and care, while cultivating a new spirit of teamwork across the agencies.
For example, in 2019, Dalton led Cerner in supporting VA’s successful migration of 23.5 million veteran health records to a secure Cerner data center, enabling VA and DOD data to reside in the same system for the first time.
He also supported early stakeholder engagement with VA leaders, clinicians and end users via national and local workshops and site reviews, which resulted in new clinical workflows that will improve care speed and quality across VA beginning with initial operational capability sites in July 2020.
And with his leadership, Cerner teamed up with VA to develop the VA Innovative Technology Advancement Lab, a clinician training program to drive product adoption and compliance, and supported DOD’s successful EHR rollout at Travis Air Force Base as a core partner on Leidos’ Partnership for Defense Health and initiating the pilot wave for U.S. Coast Guard.
Why Watch:
For Dalton, the opportunity to work on behalf of DOD and VA comes with great responsibility to deliver at the highest level of quality and value to best serve the veteran and military community.
In addition to leading the day-to-day program support, Dalton has spearheaded new local, regional and national partnerships with veterans service and military service organizations that focus on research and innovation to provide mental health awareness and treatments, combat opioid abuse, prevent suicide and support caregivers.
And as a leader, Dalton is said to bring humility, a mission-centric approach and a servant leadership style that sets him apart. He believes in continuous coaching and invests significant time in cultivating a culture that nurtures leaders at every level and helps them thrive, while working as one team to achieve the collective mission.