An Assessment of Navy Medicine's Homeland Defense, Emergency Preparedness, Civil Support and Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Response Capabilities

Introduction. The primary goal of this Military Medical Department assessment is to expand upon and compliment a larger Military Health System (MHS) Homeland Defense and Civil Support and Stability Operations Capabilities Based Analysis (CBA) in order to support Navy Medicine transformational activities. The MHS CBA provided an excellent baseline for the mission areas assessed, but required significant augmentation to identify and address Navy Medicine specific capability gaps. The end-state of this assessment is to support direction for health services capability development in support of Homeland Defense (HD), Emergency Preparedness (EP), Civil Support (CS), Humanitarian Assistance (HA) and Disaster Relief (DR) missions and operations.;Objectives and effects. Four objectives and eleven effects were derived from strategic guidance for Navy Medicine's support role in HD, EP, CS, HA, and DR operations. These are: · Full characterization of operational environments for health needs and threats: · Health threats are anticipated, detected, and tracked; · Health threats are analyzed, communicated, and integrated into plans; · Existing medical and public health infrastructure and services fully characterized; · The applied resources and intent of all involved parties is understood. · Navy and Marine Corps force health is protected: · Forces are aware of threats, vulnerabilities and health risks are mitigated to minimize the number of disease and non-battle injury (DNBI) and battlefield injuries. · Mission directed health service support is provided: · The number of civilian/host nation (HN) casualties are minimized through effective health risk management; · Civilian/HN casualties morbidity and mortality is minimized; · Civilian/HN health services are supported to maintain population health. · Adverse health consequences of hostile actions and natural events are mitigated: · Navy, Marine Corps, and Department of Defense (DOD) casualties morbidity and mortality is minimized; · Navy and Marine Corps health services are restored to normal operations.;Data collection, analysis, and gap identification. Data regarding Navy Medicine capabilities was gathered through questionnaires, on-site interviews, and telephone interviews. The resulting information was assessed for trends to determine capability gaps. The identified gaps were also compared to information from the Navy Operational Medicine Lessons Learned (NOMLL) database and findings from previous studies such as the Vanguard 2005 and 2009 reports.;Solution portfolios. Solution sets were developed to address the specific gaps observed and the underlying causes evaluated during the DOTMLPF assessment of each gap. The portfolios developed focus on non-materiel changes first; materiel development was only pursued as a last option. This process is consistent with JCIDS guidance and serves to minimize costs. Ultimately four portfolios emerged from this analysis: · DEPMEDS Evolution and Employment · Force Development and Utilization · Performance Measures to Drive Evolutionary Change · Mission Assurance-Force Health Protection;Recommended way ahead. The findings in this assessment indicate that there is significant operational risk in meeting the requirements of all missions assessed. The solutions advanced provide an evolutionary and potentially revolutionary roadmap for Navy Medicine to mitigate the capability gaps identified. It is strongly recommended that Navy Medicine embrace the Navy capabilities development process and pursue the next phase in the JCIDS process, development of initial capabilities documents (ICDs) and related DOTMLPF change recommendations (DCR). To achieve the vision expressed in the portfolios, a new level of cooperation and corporate stewardship is required between all involved parties: BUMED, OPNAV, USFFC, numbered fleets, and supported commands such as CNIC. Ultimately, this course of action may require significant realignment of organizations, business process reengineering, and culture shifts to meet the demands of the diverse missions assigned with the relatively scarce resources allocated expected to be allocated in this austere financial environment. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...