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- Travel, PCS and Transportation
- Important Regulation Changes
- Travel & Transportation Entitlements Summary
- Permanent Change of Station (PCS)
- Temporary Duty (TDY)
- Junior COSTEP Travel Information
- Official Travel Forms
- Household Goods Officers
- Transportation
- Government Travel Charge Card
- Table of Frequently Used Acronyms
- Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
- Links
- Travel and Transportation Allowances FAQ
- About Personnel & Career Management
- Awards-Officer Awards Program
- Nominations Procedures and Forms
- Eligibility to Receive Awards
- Approval Levels
- Types of Recognition & Awards Criteria
- Non-PHS Awards
- Write-Up (Narrative) Guidance & Tips
- List of OPDIV Awards Coordinators (PDF, 67kb)
- List of Liaisons (PDF, 266kb)
- 2021 USPHS Awards Process Flowchart (PDF, 702kb)
- FAQs
- COER
- DEERS Information (PDF, 139kb)
- Important Information Regarding DEERS and ID Cards During COVID-19 (PDF, 57kb)
- eCORPS Information
- Education Benefits Overview
- FAQs
- Forms
- Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF)
- eOPF FAQs
- eOPF Status
- FAQs Practice Hours and Special Pay Changes
- Licensure
- Officer Leave and Absence Request FAQ
- Promotions
- Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)
- Veteran Health Administration (VHA) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Practice Hours
- Link to list of Professional Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairs (PDF, 19kb)
- About Policy
- Commissioned Corps Issuance System
- Equal Opportunity
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Political Restrictions
- Promotion Ceremony Protocol (PDF, 126kb)
- SGHG Drill and Ceremonies Manual (PDF, 3.39mb)
- Uniform Specifications
- PHS Hard Shoulder Boards and Sleeve Insignia (Male and Female) (PDF, 828kb)
- PHS Soft Shoulder Marks (Unisex) (PDF, 324kb)
- Medical Requirements for Promotion
- RedDOG Force Readiness Information
- Link to list of Chief Professional Officers (CPO) (PDF, 348kb)
- Link to list of Liaisons (PDF, 266kb)
- Promotion Board Recommendations
- Not promoted? Now What?
- FAQs
- Officer Promotion Packet Verification System (OPPVS) Timeline & FAQs
- Promotion, Readiness and Compliance FAQs
- Permanent Promotion Eligibility Chart
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- Visit CDC.gov for Coronavirus (COVID-19) Public Health Updates
As Public Health Service Officers and America’s Health Responders, we stand ready to preserve public health and national security during national or global health emergencies. Our mission is to be out the door as soon as requested, as this is an “all hands on deck” situation. All Corps officers were placed on involuntary deploy or "alert" status effective Wednesday, March 25, 2020, irrespective of the 'on-call month' status. Under Commissioned Corps Directive 121.02, "Deployment and Readiness," as directed by Assistant Secretary for Health, Commissioned Corps Headquarters will deploy Commissioned Corps officers assigned to HHS OpDivs/StaffDivs, either voluntarily or involuntarily and without supervisory approval, who are not considered mission critical, for deployments, under the current National Emergency. Mission critical requests sent to CCHQ are not final until the request is approved by the CCHQ Director as per the POM 821.76 ”Deployment Procedures”. An officer with a non-HHS organization may be deployed in accordance with the Memorandum of Agreement/Understanding between the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the non-HHS organization.
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Readiness and Deployment Branch (RDB)
Annual Physical Fitness Test (APFT) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
APFT Exercises and Standards
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Studies show that maintaining flexibility reduces risk of injury. A flexibility component was added to ensure that officers demonstrate a minimum level of flexibility. Thus the APFT provides a more comprehensive and scientifically-supported measure of overall fitness by incorporating four components of fitness: cardiorespiratory endurance, upper body endurance, core endurance, and flexibility. The flexibility component is a seated toe touch exercise which is scored as satisfactory or unsatisfactory.
The new elliptical and bike 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 and bike to ensure the test is consistent across different types of machines. It is necessary to only use an elliptical or bike from the approved list identified on the APFT POM and instructional guide or the calculation and results will not be accurate. The APFT Advisory Council will continually monitor the Navy’s approved equipment list and make recommendations to add additional equipment as the Navy expands their list.
Yes, the references used for the APFT standards are available to officers. Please see the APFT Overview on the CCMIS website for additional information.
No, the frequency of the APFT will not change. Unless given a medical-approved waiver, all officers are required to complete one APFT every 12 months to meet basic readiness requirements each year.
Documentation and APFT Scoring
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There are options to completing the APFT without having another officer physically present. The ideal situation is an active-duty commissioned officer from the USPHS or one of the other Uniformed Services is physically present to observe each officer’s APFT (current APFT requirement). If that is not possible, an officer can view another officer’s APFT via live video through a cell phone or computer (Google hangout, iPhone Facetime, Skype, etc.). If the APFT is viewed via a live video, the officer completing the APFT will send Form PHS-7044 to the observing officer to obtain his/her signature via pdf or fax. If neither of the first two options is available to an officer, a federal employee non-officer adult can observe an officer’s APFT.
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 flexibility exercise is scored as satisfactory or unsatisfactory.
In order to pass the APFT, 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 APFT is considered failed. If an officer scores satisfactory on the seated toe touch, the final score is obtained by averaging the scores of the cardiorespiratory endurance, upper body endurance, and core endurance components. If an officer scores unsatisfactory on the seated toe touch, the overall APFT score will be one level lower.
See APFT POM for Scoring the APFT and examples.
Officers may only use an authorized elliptical or stationary bike for these cardiorespiratory endurance alternatives. If an officer is unable to locate an approved machine to use, they must do the run or swim cardiorespiratory endurance exercise. The score from the elliptical or bike 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 APFT POM for List of Approved Equipment and Gender Standards Tables.
Officers who achieve and maintain an overall APFT level of “Excellent” or greater on the APFT and complete the other FMRB requirements will be included for FMRB eligibility determination.
See CCMIS Website, under “Readiness” for FMRB guidance and requirements.
On Form PHS-7044. Officers will complete the form with the signature of the testing official, create a new APFT record within Self-Service and upload a hardcopy document via eDOC-U to supplement the new APFT record. Officers are recommended to maintain a copy for their personal records. All officers will need to enter the last name of the testing official who views and verifies their APFT and the remaining fields will auto populate if the testing official is another Corps officer. CCHQ will periodically audit the officer and the observing officer to verify that the APFT was viewed and information entered into eDOC-U is accurate.
At this time, the USPHS uses Body Mass Index (BMI) and estimated percent body fat (PBF) standards for all active duty and Ready Reserve officers. Including this information on APFT records is required due to verify compliance with Retention Weight Standards. Failure to include height, and weight information on the APFT or Verified Weight Report (7044-1) will identify the officer as “Not Qualified” during monthly readiness checks.
Medical Waivers
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Waivers are specific to the individual components of the APFT that an officer is unable to perform due to a physical or medical limitation. Officers with a component-specific waiver are expected to complete the other components of the APFT. For example, an officer with a waiver for the cardiorespiratory endurance component (run, swim, elliptical, or bike) due to an injury is still expected to complete the upper body endurance, core endurance, and flexibility portions of the APFT. In this case, the waiver would exempt the officer only from the cardiorespiratory endurance portion of the fitness test. See FAQ 13 for scoring information with a medical waiver.
Additional information on medical waivers is located on the CCMIS website under the “Medical Affairs” section.
In order to request a medical waiver, the officer must send in a brief written narrative summarizing the purpose and timeframe of the request. Additionally, the treating provider should submit a diagnosis, recommended waiver period, and any additional relevant medical evidence or supporting documentation to supplement the request.
Additional information on medical waivers is located on the CCMIS website under the “Medical Affairs” section.
The overall APFT 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.
See APFT POM for Scoring the APFT and examples.
Officers can make multiple attempts to pass the APFT, if necessary. If an officer does not successfully pass the APFT and does not have a medical waiver, the officer will have 12-months to successfully complete and pass the APFT. Any officer who is unable to pass the APFT will be marked “Not Qualified”, resulting in non-compliance with the conditions of service, be identified as not eligible for promotion or deployment and are subject to disciplinary actions including referral to retention boards.
Please reference Adverse Action policies including and CCD 123.01, “Involuntary Separation,” and CCD 111.02, “Disciplinary Action.”
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