“Why GAO Did This Study
In recent years, the Senate Armed Services Committee and DOD have raised concerns that the military health system has prioritized peacetime care to the detriment of combat casualty care capability and wartime medical skills…”
“What GAO Found
The Department of Defense (DOD) has not determined the required size and composition of its operational medical and dental personnel who support the wartime mission or submitted a complete report to Congress, as required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. Leaders from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) disagreed with the military departments’ initial estimates of required personnel that were developed to report to Congress. OSD officials cited concerns that the departments had not applied assumptions for operating jointly in a deployed environment and for leveraging efficiencies among personnel and units. GAO found that the military departments applied different planning assumptions in estimating required personnel, such as the definition of “operational” requirements. DOD expects to provide its next update to Congress in February 2019. Until DOD establishes joint planning assumptions for developing medical and dental personnel requirements, including a definition, and a method to assess options for achieving joint efficiencies, DOD will not know whether it has the optimal requirements to achieve its missions…”
“What GAO Recommends
GAO is making six recommendations, including that DOD establish joint planning assumptions and a definition, and a method for assessing medical and dental personnel requirements; identify and mitigate limitations in a clinical readiness metric for medical providers; and determine specialties and estimate costs and benefits for applying a readiness metric. DOD concurred with all six recommendations and described implementation steps it plans to take.”
Source: Actions Needed to Determine the Required Size and Readiness of Operational Medical and Dental Forces – February 21, 2019. GAO.
