Bangor, Maine - Feb 2022: An aerospace medical service technician gains familiarity with medical equipment in preparation for the COVID support operations at Eastern Maine Medical Center. (Army photo by Sgt. Tiffany Banks). The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
By: FEDweek StaffThe Pentagon’s plan to cut the number of healthcare workers is drawing scrutiny from the government’s top watchdog agency. The initiative entails trimming or realigning 12,801 military positions, 1,000 of which are medical specialties deemed “critical to wartime or behavioral health,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO) stated in a recent report.
Under the proposed changes, military healthcare planners intend to shift the workload to civilian contractors and TRICARE network providers, and have remaining full-time staff assume added responsibilities.
While DoD has considered the effects these personnel changes would have on military treatment facilities (MTFs), “DoD did not always consider the feasibility of its mitigation strategies – such as the ability of TRICARE networks to meet any increase in the demand for healthcare – because it did not have guidance about how to assess these effects on MTFs,” the report stated.
Without a more thorough look at these potentially adverse effects, GAO stated, the military healthcare system could fall short in its mission of ensuring readiness among those in uniform and caring for their families as well.
The methodology that was used to ultimately determine that the personnel cuts are feasible is flawed, GAO stated, because DoD failed to consider factors such as the ongoing challenge in recruitment and retention of qualified personnel.
“For example, DoD has not fully determined the medical personnel needed to support casualties returning from an overseas large-scale conflict,” the report stated. “Without fully defined requirements, DoD will not have all the relevant information to make decisions regarding the reduction of military medical personnel.”
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