Skip policy: road to Force Health Protection 2010.
The 2010 Force Health Protection Capstone concept envisions a single level of theater hospitalization and a greater reliance on the strategic movement of casualties from the theater. A significant Force Health Protection implication is 100% of the combat zone patients leaving theater will not have a second stay at an echelon/level IV hospital. In 2000, the Army began moving toward the Force Health Protection concept by using a skip policy for determining 2007 medical force structure requirements. Implementing the skip policy avoids (eliminates) the second echelon/level IV hospital length of stay for a percentage of combat zone patients leaving theater. The Army's decision to implement a skip policy exposed the complexities associated with determining deployable medical force structure requirements and the inherent inter-relatedness of the services medical mission.
McMurry
Pat
P
Chief Force Structure and Analysis Branch, United States Army Medical Department Center and School, Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234, USA.
Nolan
David L
DL
D006772:Hospitals, Military / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006775:Hospitals, Packaged / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008889:Military Personnel; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D016134:Organizational Policy; D010360:Patient Transfer / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States; D014857:Warfare; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000628:therapy*