The COVID-19 pandemic is causing the Defense Department to reassess an overhaul of its military health system that aims at eliminating 17,000 medical billets and force 190K beneficiaries into private care, according to the Defense Health Agency (DHA). Defense Secretary Mark Esper is collecting data on the effects of the pandemic and recommendations to whether to move ahead with its plans after halting them at the start of the outbreak, DHS Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Place said Oct. 8. Congress ordered DoD to reduce costs by restructuring its system of hospitals/base clinics as part of the 2017 defense authorization law. The House version of the FY 2021 defense bill pauses the restructuring for 12 months. The overhaul plan called for reductions to uniformed billets and base health-care facilities across the nation. The restructuring would also put military hospitals under the oversight of the DHA and usher in a new system of e-health records. Those efforts are on hold during the review by SECDEF and Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist. SECDEF's decision on the realignment could come as soon as this month, Place said. (Bloomberg Government 10/09 /20) Gulf Coast Note: Military hospitals in the Gulf Coast region include Keesler AFB, Miss.; and Eglin AFB and Naval Hospital Pensacola, both in Florida. Some of those base clinics affiliated with these hospitals include NAS Meridian, NCBC Gulfport, Columbus AFB, all in Mississippi; NAS/JRB New Orleans, La., at Belle Chasse; and clinics in NW Florida, such as NAS Whiting Field, NAS Pensacola, Corry Station, and NATTC Pensacola.
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