Balancing Medical Readiness: The Dilemma of Caretaker Hospitals

Abstract

As the United States Army shifts from a forward presence force to power projection force, the most challenging mission facing the Army Medical Department will be to maintain a medical force able to deploy in support of multiple contingency operations and continue to provide health care to Continental United States (CONUS) eligible beneficiaries. To answer this challenge, the Army Medical Department has developed the Caretaker Hospital concept. Under this program, active component hospitals remain in the force structure in a cadre status. The hospitals are at full authorized levels of organization (ALO) for equipment and very low ALO for personnel. They are reduced in full time manpower authorizations to a limited cadre with the residual health care staff assigned to a peacetime health care facility. The equipment is configured for long term, depot storage in order to ease deployment. This study examines the proposed operational concept and training plan for the Caretaker Hospital program.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 15, 1993
Accession Number
ADA264878

Entities

People

  • Frank H. Novier

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combat Readiness
  • Employment
  • Force Structure
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Hospitals
  • Lessons Learned
  • Maintenance
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Hospitals
  • Nato
  • Patient Care
  • Therapy
  • United States
  • United States Southern Command
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

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  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Rehabilitation and Prosthetic Care for Military Service Members and Veterans with Limb Loss or Disability.