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The USPHS Commissioned Corps is committed to our mission to protect, promote, and advance the health and safety of the nation. Public Health Service officers are trained and equipped to provide crucial public health leadership, assist with policy development, advance innovation and science, provide essential care services and respond to national and global public health emergencies. Through our Active Duty Regular Corps, our Public Health Response Strike Team (PHERST) and our Ready Reserve Corps, we remain responsive and available to rapidly deploy in the service of health.
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Readiness and Deployment Branch (RDB)
Public Health Physical Fitness Test (PFT) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The PFT will begin on 1 April 2026. Officers must complete a PFT between 1 April - 30 September 2026 to be found “Basic Qualified” for the 1 October 2026 readiness check. The next PFT will be due 6 months from when the initial PFT was completed.
Examples:
Officers whose APFT is due in March 2026 (meaning they did their previous APFT in March 2025) will need to do the APFT as scheduled to maintain basic readiness. Officers would then complete their PFT between 1 April through 30 September 2026.
Examples:
PFT Exercises and Standards
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Effective 1 April 2026, the Annual Physical Fitness Test (APFT) is now the Public Health Service Physical Fitness Test or PFT.
- Officers will need to do the PFT biannually, no more than 6 months after the previous PFT.
- The Row is added as a new cardiovascular endurance option.
- There are 10 additional bike models added to the approved list.
- The flexibility component has been removed from the PFT. A complete PFT includes 3 exercises.
The PFT is due biannually and must be successfully completed and submitted no more than 6 months after the previous PFT to fully satisfy readiness requirements. Officers may complete and submit an updated PFT at any time (i.e., earlier than 6 months after the previous PFT) if they are attempting to improve their score. However, officers cannot go longer than 6 months without completing and submitting a new PFT. The next PFT needs to happen within the month required, but not necessarily on the same exact date as the last PFT. For example, if you did your PFT on 3 June 2026, your next PFT would be due on or before 31 December 2026.
POM 821.65, "Physical Fitness Test (PFT)" includes detailed instructions for each exercise, including images for the upper body and core endurance exercises. You can also download the app: Official Navy PFA to watch videos of how to properly do the Push-ups, Plank, 2000 m Row.
Public Health Service officers may have a fellow officer proctor their PFT virtually (i.e., Google hangout, iPhone Facetime, Zoom, Teams, etc.). Officers may also have a federal employee or other Uniformed Service member proctor their PFT in person.
All officers must maintain physical conditioning to optimize their health and prepare for deployment. Officers should plan accordingly to successfully complete, pass, and submit the PFT biannually to CCHQ, prior to the expiration of the previous test. Officers who do not submit a passing PFT prior to the expiration of the previous test will be found "Not Qualified" for readiness checks. If an incorrect or erroneous PFT record is submitted, it is subject to deletion. An officer's readiness status will revert to "Not Qualified" until a satisfactory PFT is completed and submitted.
If an officer has a medical reason for being unable to complete the PFT, they must have an approved medical waiver prior to the expiration of the prior PFT.The elliptical, bike, and row cardiovascular endurance options were adopted from the Navy. The Navy has done specific testing to validate the equipment and determine offset values for several variations of the elliptical, bike, and row to ensure the test is consistent across different types of machines. It is necessary to only use an elliptical, bike, or row from the approved list identified on the PFT POM and instructional guide or the calculation and results will not be accurate. New for 2026, 10 additional bike models have been added to the approved list. Of note, the Navy no longer uses the elliptical as a cardiovascular endurance option, so it is unlikely additional elliptical models will be added in the future.
Documentation and APFT Scoring
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The PFT is documented using Form PHS-7044. Officers will complete the form with the signature of the testing official, create a new PFT record within RDB Self Service and upload an electronic PDF to supplement the new PFT record. CCHQ will periodically audit the officer and the observing officer to verify that the PFT was viewed and information entered into eDOC-U is accurate.
The cardiorespiratory endurance, upper body endurance, and core endurance exercises each have six levels of performance: Maximum, Outstanding, Excellent, Good, Satisfactory, and Failure. Each level has a corresponding point value assigned to it. The score of the three exercises is added together, then divided by three to determine the overall PFT level. If an officer has a medical waiver for one or more exercises, the PFT score is the average of the remaining exercises.
In order to pass the PFT, an officer must achieve a satisfactory or better for the cardiorespiratory, upper body, and core exercises. If an officer does not meet the satisfactory level for any of these exercises, the overall PFT is considered failed.
See POM 821.65, "Physical Fitness Test (PFT)" for scoring the PFT and examples.
The score from the authorized model elliptical is calculated by adding the number of calories burned during 12 minutes of exercise plus an offset value from the machines and then dividing that value by the officer’s body weight in pounds.
See POM 821.65, “Physical Fitness Test (PFT)” for the calculation example.
The score for the bike is determined by the Official Navy PFA app. The exercise consists of 12 minutes on an approved stationary bike to determine a “score” calculated by using the PFA (Physical Fitness Assessment) Calculator provided within the Official Navy PFA app based on calories burned during the test.
See POM 821.65, "Physical Fitness Test (PFT)" for the calculation example.
The Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) and/or CCHQ may require officers to provide verification of a submitted fitness level. Such verification may include requiring the officer to demonstrate any or all portions of the PFT virtually or in-person. Additionally, the erroneous PFT entry will be deleted from officer's file and a correct PFT will need to be resubmitted to satisfy readiness requirements. An erroneous PFT may result in "Not Qualified" readiness status.
Medical Waivers
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Officers should review the Medical Affairs Branch Medical Waiver Program website on CCMIS for information on how to work with his/her medical provider to obtain a waiver. Medical waivers need to be obtained and submitted prior to the expiration of the PFT (i.e., no more than 6 months after the previous PFT was completed).
Waivers are specific to the individual components of the PFT that an officer is unable to perform due to a physical or medical limitation. Officers granted a component-specific waiver are expected to complete all the other components of the PFT. For example, an officer with a waiver for the cardiorespiratory endurance component (run, swim, elliptical, bike, or row) must still complete the upper body endurance and core endurance portions of the PFT. In this case, the waiver would exempt the officer only from the cardiorespiratory endurance portion of the PFT.
The overall PFT score is an average of the points obtained from each exercise completed (cardiorespiratory endurance, upper body endurance, and core endurance). If an officer has a medical waiver for one or more components, the overall score is the average of the components completed not counting the waived component.
At this time, the PHS Retention Weight Standards remain the same. As a part of PHS Mission Fit, the Weight Standards will be reviewed for current best practices and alignment with other services and updates made as necessary.
Last Updated: 3/18/2026
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