DoD Needs Better Assessment of Military Hospitals Capabilities to Care for Wartime Casualties
Abstract
Over the last two decades military hospital bed capacity has fallen substantially with the Department of Defense's (DOD's) adoption of peacetime hospital replacement standards. DOD is developing a contingency system of civilian hospitals to augment its hospital bed shortfalls. GAO believes that DOD needs a better assessment of the mobilization capabilities of military hospitals as the basis for determining what contingency support should be obtained. GAO recommends to the Secretary of Defense (1) design alternatives that would improve the mobilization capacity of military hospitals constructed in the future and (2) ways to improve military service plans for use of existing hospitals. As part of its processes for authorizing and appropriating funds for the construction of replacement medical facilities and establishing priorities for those facilities, the Congress should consider the planned hospitals' mobilization roles, their flexibility to expand, the resulting gains or losses in total DOD mobilization capacity, and whether nearby civilian hospitals can be expected to support mobilization capacity, and whether near by civilian hospitals can be expected to support mobilization needs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 19, 1981
- Accession Number
- AD1150210
Entities
People
- Milton J. Socolar
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office