Military Personnel: Status of Accession, Retention, and End Strength for Military Medical Officers and Preliminary Observations Regarding Accession and Retention Challenges
Abstract
Military medical professionals are in demand, and the Department of Defense (DOD) is experiencing shortfalls in physician, dental, nurse, and other medical officers. The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 directed the Comptroller General to report by April 1, 2009, to the congressional defense committees on a study of medical and dental personnel requirements for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, including their reserve components, to meet their medical missions. Specifically, the SASC directed the Comptroller General to evaluate medical workforce planning efforts throughout DOD to determine those medical specialties that have experienced the largest gaps between identified needs and fill rates; challenges that hinder the achievement of medical personnel goals; and the plans to resolve medical personnel shortfalls. In addition, in a subsequent meeting with SASC staff, they clarified the committee's needs and emphasized that we should also examine data from each of the services to determine whether they met their recruiting and retention goals and to identify service organizations that have responsibility for recruitment and retention. We agreed to provide our preliminary observations by April 1, 2009, and our final report during fall 2009.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 16, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA497913
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office