Inspector General Robert P. Storch announced today that the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General released its “Audit of DoD Health Care Personnel Shortages During the Coronavirus Disease–2019 Pandemic.”
The audit highlights healthcare personnel shortages in DoD medical treatment facilities before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. These shortages continue to exist, and the audit identified the need for the DoD to recruit and retain healthcare personnel for normal operations and when responding to pandemics and other healthcare emergencies.
"Staffing shortages decrease access to health care for Service members, retirees, and their families. It also increases hardship on those providing medical care,” said IG Storch. “Adjusting the salaries and qualification standards to better align with the federal and public sector competition will be a step in the right direction for health care personnel and their patients. In doing so, it will also help to ensure our military readiness.”
The DoD OIG found that restrictions with Federal and DoD-imposed requirements contributed to shortages of health care personnel at DoD medical treatment facilities. The shortages occurred for the following reasons.
- The DoD did not take full advantage of a law allowing it to establish competitive pay rates and qualification requirements for health care personnel.
- Federal law and DoD guidance requires waiting 180 days before appointing retired Service members to a civilian position.
- Civilian health care personnel working outside of the continental United States are limited to 5-year assignments with the opportunity to extend in 2-year increments.
- The approval process for civilian health care personnel requesting to work in DoD medical treatment facilities outside the continental United States was lengthy.
The DoD OIG put forth a series of recommendations to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD[P&R]) and the Director of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), underlining the significance of their roles in implementing changes to address our findings.
Recommendations to the USD(P&R) are to determine whether the DoD needs to extend waiving the authority to appoint retired Service members to a covered civilian health care position within 180 days, and develop and implement a plan to exclude health care positions that are difficult to fill from the five-year continuous service limitation for facilities outside the continental United States. To help recruit and retain health care personnel, the DoD OIG recommended that the DHA Director develop and implement plans to establish competitive pay rates and qualification requirements for nursing and other hard-to-fill medical positions, establish approval authority and maximum approval time frames for employment extensions outside of the continental United States, and apply strategies and incentives other Federal agencies use to attract entry-level registered nurses.
The DoD OIG will continue to monitor the DoD’s implementation of the recommendations in this report.