DHITS 2026: Technology as a Combat Support Capability

The Defense Health Agency (DHA) recently hosted the 2026 Defense Health Information Technology Symposium (DHITS) in New Orleans, bringing together more than 2,200 attendees to discuss the future of military health IT.  The clear message throughout the event was that technology, data, and digital capabilities are increasingly viewed as a combat support capability directly tied to warfighter readiness. 

The event message was anchored in DHA Director Vice Admiral Via’s four lines of effort (LOE): delivering medically ready warfighters, medical warrior currency, joint warfighting capabilities and high-quality beneficiary care. These priorities signal a warfighter-first approach where technology investments are increasingly measured by their ability to improve operational effectiveness, patient care, readiness and decision advantage.

DHITS also highlighted DHA’s major organizational realignment, particularly around the establishment of Portfolio Acquisition Executives (PAEs) for Medical Services, Medical Products and Medical Digital Solutions. They also established the Office of Warfighter Health Advantage (OWHA), a new organization focused on driving innovation, data-driven decision-making, health informatics, digital platforms, AI and performance optimization. Together, these changes are intended to accelerate delivery capability, improve acquisition agility and better align enterprise technology investments with warfighter readiness outcomes.

The realignment signals a continued move towards enterprise standardization, prioritizing interoperability, modular architectures and API-first design. For industry, cyber modernization, Zero Trust, identity management, network transformation, cloud security, data integration and operationalizing secure AI emerged as DHA's most important technology priorities. 

Cybersecurity Modernization

DHA’s cybersecurity modernization efforts are focused on improving enterprise-wide visibility, reducing system complexity, increasing standardization and moving toward continuous monitoring and faster authorization. AI-driven threats are also increasing the need for continuous monitoring, vulnerability and risk management and automated workflows. 

As part of this effort, DHA is rolling out a new security platform across more than 220,000 endpoints to improve endpoint security, identity monitoring, asset visibility, vulnerability management and threat intelligence. For cybersecurity vendors, this signals a preference for integrated security platforms providing real-time visibility and security operations automation, rather than add-on or disconnected security products. 

Identity, credentialing and access management (ICAM) was also highlighted repeatedly and called out as one of largest and most urgent implementation efforts for security and Zero Trust architecture across systems and networks. As DHA implements enterprise-wide systems like MHS GENSIS and JOMIS, ICAM capabilities such as multi-factor authentication, privileged access management and continuous authorization will be increasingly important in meeting zero trust standards.

Network Infrastructure Transformation

In line with the four LOEs, DHA is focused on operationally resilient networks to support continuity of care in both routine and contested environments. Network modernization initiatives will push forward broader goals around improving operational medicine from point of injury through higher levels of care, expanding telehealth, mobile health platforms, edge computing and cybersecurity compliance.

As DHA prepares for contested environments, cyber incidents, and natural disasters, network designs are increasingly focused on survivability, alternate communications paths, local autonomy and continuity of care during outages. DHA is looking to not only modernize legacy cooper lines and TDM circuits to VoIP solutions but also redesigning network traffic flows to better support cloud applications such as GENSIS, SaaS platforms and future AI-enabled services. 

However, at the Military Treatment Facility (MTF) level, MTF CIOs called out implementation challenges including recurring network outages, hardware shortages, staffing gaps, circuit failures and cyber compliance requirements. Vendors and partners that can support MTFs continued operations during outages with localized communication paths, managed security support, edge computing and disaster recovery capabilities will have an advantage. 

DHA is also moving away from traditional perimeter-based security toward a model where access decisions are based on zero trust principles and more network access is enabled through the cloud. Vendors should expect continued demand for capabilities such as SD-WAN, network segmentation, secure cloud connectivity, network visibility, traffic optimization, policy-driven access control and resilient communications.

Prioritizing Data for Decision Advantage

Underlying the large majority of DHA’s modernization initiatives are data. DHA holds a significant amount of data for electronic health records, readiness, logistics, environmental health, public health surveillance, etc. Breaking down siloes, remediating fragmented data, and improving data orchestration are one of the highest priorities to create a more connected digital ecosystem and improve operational intelligence and decision-making support.

As part of the transformation, DHA is looking to build a federated data orchestration approach, led by Chief Data and AI Officer (CDAO) Dr. Jesus Caban, to ultimately connect data across the enterprise, improve accessibility and operationalize secure AI to enhance and accelerate decision-making. For industry, this creates opportunities for data integration tools, data fabrics, data governance, data engineering and health informatics. 

At the same time, clinical informatics workforce shortages, workflow challenges, differing coding systems, end user engagement and frequent changes to EHR and documentation requirements remain consistent challenges to effective health system data integration. As digital solutions like JOMIS and GENESIS are increasingly expected to operate as an integrated ecosystem, there will likely be opportunities for workflow analysis, risk management, API management and workforce training. 

Operationalizing AI

Data is also the foundation for DHA’s push to operationalizing secure AI. While DHA intends to become an AI-first organization, there are concerns about governance, workflow integration, adoption, trust and patient safety. DHA leaders were clear that they are not pursuing AI for its own sake, but rather to make meaningful reduction of administrative burden, improve provider efficiency, support clinical decision-making and accelerate operational workflows. Current deployment efforts include ambient listening, automated coding, chart summarization, administrative workflow automation and expanding the use of secure generative tools like Ask Sage. 

For technology companies, successful AI adoption will depend on demonstrating more than technical capabilities. Vendors will need to show that solutions are secure and trustworthy, integrate into existing healthcare workflows, address healthcare-specific data requirements, and produce measurable improvements in efficiency, readiness, decision-making, or patient care.

Key Takeaways for Industry

The strongest signal from DHITS 2026 is that DHA increasingly views technology as a combat support capability that directly contributes to readiness, operational medicine, patient safety and decision advantage. For technology companies, there are some key themes to keep in mind:

• Demonstrate measurable mission outcomes, whether that’s for patient care, administrative efficiency or operational effectiveness.
• Prioritize secure-by-design solutions that can integrate into the enterprise environment, improve continuous monitoring and Zero Trust architecture. 
• Position around continuity of operations and resilience to support operational realities at MTFs or in contested environments.  
• Prioritize solutions that are modular and flexible to integrate into the broader health IT ecosystem and improve interoperability.
• Position secure AI solutions around operational use cases that can provide meaningful impacts for providers and improve adoption.

As DHA continues to modernize its cybersecurity and network infrastructure, improve data interoperability, and move AI into operational use, vendors that can connect technology investments to warfighter health advantage will be best positioned.

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About the Author:
Nikki Hamlin is a senior analyst on the TD SYNNEX Public Sector Market Intelligence team covering trends across the federal market. Nikki has more than 8 years of experience in federal procurement research and analysis, providing critical insights to support businesses in making informed decisions across civilian and defense agencies.