Plan to Slash Military Medical Billets Based on Faulty Analysis, Federal Watchdog Says
Patricia Kime
Wed, July 12, 2023 at 3:01 PM EDT·5 min read
The Defense Department's plan to cut 12,801 medical positions from the DoD, Army, Navy and Air Force was built on inadequate assessments, a shortcoming that could affect patient care, including treatment for service members during wartime, a new Government Accountability Office report finds.
The watchdog agency report released Tuesday said the department still has not "fully or consistently assessed the effects of potential reductions." In 2019, the Pentagon proposed to eliminate more than 17,000 uniformed medical billets – including 10,739 doctors, dentists, nurses, corpsmen and medics -- but the figure was later reduced by roughly 4,500 positions due to further analysis and attrition.
The idea was that some billets would be repurposed as operational billets -- combat or combat support jobs -- while leaner medical staffs provided care for all military personnel and dependents in some locations. Other family members and retirees were to be shifted to civilian care through the Tricare network.
https://news.yahoo.com/plan-slash-military-medical-billets-190110825.html
