The U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency teamed up with Defense Health Agency, Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support and the Navy Printing Office to significantly reduce the cost of a common and essential tool used on the battlefield – the Tactical Combat Casualty Care card.
The TCCC card, officially known as DD Form 1380, is a single-use, double-sided form that is waterproof, tear-resistant and foldable. On the battlefield the TCCC is fastened to an injured soldier”s uniform or body. The TCCC card serves as a record of trauma care rendered at the point of injury through tactical field care and pre-hospital evacuation. Later, the information collected on the TCCC card is imported into the service member”s Electronic Health Record.
Previously, the TCCC cards were purchased through a vendor that sold each card for more than $3. However, in January 2017, the Navy Printing Office agreed to support the Army by printing and providing the cards for about 17 cents each – about 5 percent of the commercial rate.
The TCCC card is a component of more than 10 Army medical device unit assemblages, which means the total Army stocks thousands of TCCC cards. As cards are used, they need to be replaced by units. Since units can now purchase them for less, the estimated cost savings is more than a million dollars across the entire Army.