AF Deputy Surgeon General speaks to House Subcommittee about the future of medical readiness Published Feb. 29, 2016 By Prerana Korpe Air Force Surgeon General Public Affairs FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- Air Force Deputy Surgeon General Maj. Gen. Dorothy Hogg, testified before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, during the “Ensuring Medical Readiness in the Future,” hearing on Feb. 26, at the Rayburn House Office Building, in Washington, D.C. The subcommittee convened to hear testimony from the Department of Defense and military services, about how best to ensure future medical readiness of the U.S. military. “This hearing is a part of the committee’s ongoing project to comprehensively review the current state of the Military Health System and military healthcare, and based on this information, identify areas that need improvement,” said Rep. Joseph Heck (R-NV), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, during opening remarks. “Our purpose today is to discuss the top priority of the military health system –to ensure the medical readiness of our military forces, while also ensuring a ready medical force, prepared to deploy in support of our combat troops.” Gen. Hogg’s testimony covered the critical developments of military medicine. “These crucial advances have not only benefited the military, but civilian medicine as well,” said the general. “These advances were made possible by the advances of military practitioners. Even in peace time, military health care providers have the complex job of maintaining the medical readiness of service members at home stations while also manning, equipping and deploying medical units with medical personnel who are trained in both military skills and specialized medical skills needed for wartime medicine.” “Fielding ready medics is the key to providing world class health care at home and in the deployed environment,” Gen. Hogg said. To illustrate this point, the general spoke about a NATO patient who suffered from adult respiratory distress syndrome at Craig Joint Theater Hospital in Afghanistan, and was cared for by Craig’s critical care medical team. While awaiting aeromedical evacuation to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, the patient experienced a life-threatening irregular heart rate which resulted in advanced cardiac life support and kidney dialysis. Craig’s critical care team played an essential role in saving the patient’s life, by quickly stabilizing the patient in preparation for immediate evacuation. Gen. Hogg described how the Air Force is committed to maintaining expeditionary readiness of a professional medical force capable of delivering agile combat support to the combatant commander, while providing trusted care to families and warfighters at home. Casualty care lessons are institutionalized through the AFMS’ readiness programs and the programs are said to continue to enable essential medical capabilities well into the future. The general credited Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) as the foundation for medical readiness, the AFMS’ reason for being. “Every MTF in the Air Force is a medical readiness platform aligned with an operational Wing to directly enhance the medical readiness of warfighters and care of their families,” said Gen. Hogg. “The goal of every patient engagement is to improve the performance of the Airman at work, at home and in the deployed environment.” “Everything we do is centered on readiness. The care we provide to military personnel, retirees and families directly sustains the readiness of our medical force,” said Gen. Hogg as she explained the need for access to a diverse patient population that affords an adequate volume of workload, breadth of clinical diversity and acuity, in order to sustain expeditionary medical readiness. Gen. Hogg described ongoing AFMS initiatives to support and maintain medical readiness well into the future: Continued care of both service members and their families at MTFs, which provides a diverse patient population The Sustained Medical and Readiness Trained, or SMART, program, a process for MTF commanders to ensure their staff remains clinically current A Regional Currency Site , which provides clinical experience at a high-volume medical center through a prescribed curriculum The Readiness Skills Verification Program (RSVP), which establishes baseline skills required in a deployed environment; RSVP training applies to all individuals who hold a medical Air Force Specialty Code The Center for the Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (C-STARS) program which rotates Air Force health care providers through critical trauma training to prepare them for wartime casualties; in addition to simulation, C-STARS students treat real-life casualties in some of the nation’s most renowned trauma centers Air Force Graduate Medical Education programs Col. Linda Lawrence, an emergency medicine physician, testified during the second panel of the Subcommittee hearing. Col. Lawrence addressed the need to maintain hospitals with a diverse, complex patient population. Such was deemed necessary to maintain lessons learned, advance training and bring forth the next generation of researchers. Lawrence described the need to partner with academic institutions and professional organizations, to take lessons learned and continue to grow. The colonel highlighted the need for research and partnerships, both of which require funding, in order to continue to advance the future of readiness. “Bringing in professional organizations is not only helping the military, but translates those lessons learned into society and vice versa,” said Colonel Lawrence. U.S. House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, hearing on“Ensuring Medical Readiness in the Future” USAF. (U.S. Air Force Graphic by Rosario "Charo" Gutierrez) Photo Details / Download Hi-Res USAF. (U.S. Air Force Graphic by Rosario "Charo" Gutierrez)