The Health Services Category Professional Advisory Groups shall be referred to as PAGs. The articles contained in this document serve as a unified bylaw that will apply to all PAGs, recognizing that discipline specific activities and operations will be delineated in each of the PAG standard operating procedures. The following PAGs are recognized by the Health Services Professional Advisory Committee (HS PAC):
1. Basic Applied Sciences
2. Dental Hygiene
3. Health Administration
4. Health Information Technology
5. Medical Laboratory Science
6. Optometry
7. Physician Assistant
8. Public Health
9. Social Worker
Because the Psychology PAG has officers both in the HSPAC and the Scientist Professional Advisory Committee and are exempt from the structure described in this Uniform PAG Bylaw.

The PAGs, under the direction of the HS PAC, shall consider discipline-specific, professional issues and advise the Surgeon General on current and future policy and practice through the HS PAC and Chief Professional Officer (CPO) regarding such issues.

Section 1.  Basic Eligibility Requirement

PAG Voting Members (VM) shall be a full-time CC officer in the Health Services (HS) Category and meet the eligibility requirements for initial appointment to the HS Category and DCCPR personnel system. All officers must meet the CC basic readiness standards and be in good standing with their Agency (performance, no adverse actions, & etc.) at the time they are nominated and appointed to PAG, and throughout their term or service.
Basic readiness standards can be obtained throughout the HS PAC Readiness Subcommittee and Agency good standing record can be obtained through the HS PAC Membership Subcommittee from Agency Liaisons.
Eligible VM’s must be an assigned primary PAG member as published on the Official PAG Roster that is managed by the HS PAC Chair and CPO. The official primary assigned PAG membership list is sent to each PAG Chair, at a minimum, on an annual basis. Officers cannot serve in a VM role outside their primary assigned PAG as outlined in the Official PAG Roster.

Section 2.  Size of PAG Voting Membership

The PAGs shall have 9 VMs who are nominated and appointed by each of the VMs on a PAG. The nine VM include: the PAG Chair and 8 Subcommittee Chairs (Recruitment & Retentions Subcommittee is an ad hoc Subcommittee and can be filled with a non-voting member). The Chair-Elect will serve as a Chair of a Subcommittee.
The Executive Secretary is not a voting membership position. Subcommittee Co-Chairs can be non-VM’s. The PAG Recruitment Subcommittee is an ad-hoc committee that is activated at the discretion of the HS PAC Chair or CPO during open enrollment for new HS Officers in specific disciplines; therefore, a voting member is not required to chair this subcommittee.

Section 3.  Term of Appointment

PAG Chair: Term of Appointment: If the term of the Chair coincides with the expiration of that individual’s membership on the HS PAC, the Chair may serve one (1) additional year as an ex-officio member of the PAG, unless reappointed as a regular member per the provisions of Article (V). For example, a PAG member can be appointed and serve as Chair-Elect in his/her third year on the PAG and then serve a fourth year in an ex-officio status as Chair if not reappointed to a new three (3) year term.
Other VM: Each VM shall serve a term of up to three years. Terms will be staggered so that approximately one-third of the members’ terms will expire annually. Members may re-apply after the first term. Terms of office may be served consecutively at the discretion of the Chair of each PAG.
No officer shall be elected to more than two consecutive (or non-consecutive) terms. In addition, Officers cannot serve as dual VM in the HS PAC and VM of a PAG during the same time period.

Section 4.  PAG VM Responsibilities

PAG VMs are responsible for serving in a leadership role (e.g., Chair and Subcommittee Chairs) each year of their three year term. The Recruitment & Retentions Subcommittee is an ad hoc Subcommittee and can be filled with a non-voting member. The below mentioned responsibilities does apply to the Recruitment and Retention Subcommittee once stood up as an ad hoc Subcommittee.
Once the VM has earned 30 days of service per 3 year VM cycle, the PAG Chair will provide details of such service to the HS PAC Chair for recognition (e.g., Unit Commendation) through the HS PAC Awards Subcommittee. The template can be obtained from the HS PAC Awards Subcommittee. Officers selected for PAG VM membership are responsible for:
1) Chairing one PAG subcommittee in their respective PAG
2) Attending PAG voting member, HS PAC leadership, and general meetings
3) Collaborating, leading and managing activities across other PAGs, HS PAC Subcommittees and other CC workgroups/committees, and discipline-related professional organizations
4) Providing leadership and comments on pending changes to the Commissioned Corps and HS PAC, and other PAG priorities as needed through the PAC Chair and CPO.

Section 5.  Representation

The PAGs will make a concerted effort to have an all-inclusive diversity in its membership. Participation shall be encouraged from across government Agencies, to provide a range of experiences necessary to address issues before a respective PAG. Consideration will also be given to diversify range of rank among the VMs.
PAG participation shall be promoted from members whose regular duty station is geographically removed from the National Capital Region (NCR) (e.g., Washington, DC, Virginia, and Maryland). PAG members will be actively solicited and provisions, such as teleconferencing, will be made so officers stationed outside the NCR can participate in meetings.
Officers participating in a PAG will be officially assigned to a PAG that appropriately aligns with their professional discipline and commissioning degree by the HS PAC Chair and CPO. All officers, including VM’s, can participate in other activities or PAGs outside their primary assigned PAG. However, VMs can only serve in a VM role in their primary or officially assigned PAG.

Section 6.  Participating Members (non-voting)

The PAGs welcome individuals to serve in a volunteer capacity on all PAG and PAC subcommittees and workgroups and to assist with special projects and activities at the discretion of the PAG Chair. Non-VM’s can serve as PAG Subcommittee co-chairs (if needed) at the discretion of the PAG Chair if the activities provide justification for multiple leadership roles.

Section 1. PAG members will be selected for a three (3) year term. Terms will be staggered so that approximately one-third of the members’ terms will expire annually. Once a member has accumulated a lifetime total of six (6) years of service on the PAG, they are not eligible for reappointment. Terms of office may be served consecutively at the discretion of the PAG Chair.

Section 2. Line of Succession
In the event that a voting member’s primary work responsibilities and other extenuating circumstances prevent them from participating in PAG activities, line of succession procedures can be established that allow voting members to appoint an alternate (alternate must be a PAG VM to Chair a Subcommittee) with regards to PAG-related matters.
If the PAG Chair is unable to serve their term, the PAG Chair-Elect will be next in the line of succession to become Chair.

Section 3. Attendance
VMs are required to attend either in person, by telephone or by videoconference, a majority of PAG meetings. Members are expected to have an alternate attend any meeting where they cannot be present. Any member of the PAG who misses more than 50% of meetings without just cause can, at the discretion of the PAG Chair and in consultation with the HS PAC Chair and/or CPO, be asked to voluntarily resign from the PAG.

Section 1. Annually, the PAG will solicit, through the HS PAC and PAG membership those assigned as primary members to each PAG (see Article III, Section 6), nominations for VM vacancies on the PAG from all individuals whose professional disciplines are represented in the PAG. Self-nominations are acceptable and will be solicited. The current PAG voting membership will anonymously vote on the nominations.

Section 2. This nomination process shall be conducted so that the nomination package is available for the PAG Chair’s final approval and concurrence from HS PAC Chair and CPO through the HS PAC Membership Subcommittee no less than 90 calendar days prior to the expiration of the regular term of the member (at the end of the calendar year).
The nomination process should correspond with timeline for nominations of the HSPAC Category through the HS PAC Membership Subcommittee, to ensure timeline coordination and as per section Article III, Sections 1 & 3.

Section 3. Should the need arise to fill an unexpired term, the vacancy shall be filled through the annual nomination process or the PAG Chair, with consultation from the HS PAC Chair and/or CPO, may appoint an officer to fill a voting member vacancy for an unexpired term until the next nomination cycle.

Section 1. PAG Chair
a. The PAG Chair is responsible for leading the PAG in fulfilling its mission as stated in Article II. When representing the PAG, the Chairperson will act in the best interest of the PAG. Term of the Chair: The Chair will serve a one (1) year term.
b. The PAG Chair’s duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
i. Ensure the mission, goals, objectives and functions of the PAG bylaws and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are accomplished;
ii. Preside at PAG meetings and working with the Executive Secretary to coordinate the meeting agenda and agenda topics;
iii. Monitor all subcommittees’ functions and being instrumental in appointing members to chair subcommittees;
iv. Attend Chief Professional Officer/HS PAC Chair meetings;
v. Guide efforts to influence policy development affecting Health Services personnel including utilization, training, recruitment, orientation, compensation, professionalism, and award recognition;
vi. Provide advice and consultation to the HS PAC Chair on matters related to professional activities and personnel issues affecting Health Services professionals;
vii. Establish and maintaining close relationships with representatives from other PAGs/PACs and consulting with those organizations, as necessary, to ensure the attainment of PHS mission, vision and objectives;
viii. Represent the PAG at in CC and professional organization settings;
ix. Orient new PAG members; having custody of the PAG By-Laws and all other records and documents of the PAG;
x. Maintain the PAG membership list comprised of mailing addresses, telephone numbers, facsimile numbers and e-mail addresses in accordance with personally identified information guidelines;
xi. Maintain formal copies of the PAG meeting minutes;
xii. Collaborate on activities across PAGs and HS PAC Subcommittees;
xiii. Collaborate across PHS and professional organizations on discipline-specific issues;
xiv. Regularly communicate (monthly) with HS PAC Chair and/or CPO;
xv. Coordinate speakers and agenda for the PAG meetings.

Section 2. PAG Chair-Elect
a. The primary duty of the Chair-Elect is to acquaint him/herself with the ongoing business of the HS PAC and the duties of the Chair to ensure a smooth transition when the Chair-Elect assumes the office of Chair. The Chair-Elect will assist the Chair in the execution of PAG business as described in Section 1 of this Article. These duties include representing the Chair at the PAG meetings in their absence and actively participate with the Chair in fulfilling the PAG mission.

The Chair elect is also responsible for Chairing a PAG Subcommittee during their Chair-Elect year. The Chair-Elect will be elected by the voting membership of the PAG, usually 90-days prior to end of the calendar year.
b. Term of the Chair-Elect: The Chair-elect will serve a one (1) year term before assuming the duties of the PAG Chair.

Section 3. PAG Executive Secretary
a. The Executive Secretary is responsible for PAG records and correspondence. The Executive Secretary keeps an accurate record of the meetings and activities of the PAG and is responsible for recording PAG member attendance at scheduled meetings. The Executive Secretary also assists the PAG Chair with orienting new PAG members and officers in their duties and responsibilities and other administrative tasks.
The PAG Executive Secretary is not a voting member position and can be filled by an assigned primary member of the PAG (Article III, Section 1). The Executive Secretary is appointed annually by the PAG Chair. Terms are one year but can be renewed by the next PAG Chair on an annual basis.

Section 1. Each PAG shall begin the term of its operational year each January through December.

Section 2. Meetings will be held, at a minimum, every other month, starting in January. The time of the meeting is set by the PAG Chair with agreement of the majority of the voting members.

Section 3. An Executive Secretary must be present (on call or in-person) at each PAG meeting. If the regularly appointed Executive Secretary is absent, the PAG Chairperson will appoint a temporary recorder from the voting membership present.

Section 4. PAG meeting minutes will be drafted and disseminated to all members of the PAG for review no later than four (4) weeks after the meeting. Members have two (2) weeks to submit corrections or comments. PAG meeting minutes are then formally adopted by vote at the next PAG meeting. The PAG Chairperson is responsible for the above time allotments.

Section 5. The PAG Executive Secretary will maintain a permanent file of the official minutes, attendance records, and reports of the PAG.

Section 6. PAG minutes shall be published on the HS PAC website within two weeks of formal approval. The Executive Secretary is responsible for sending the PAG minutes to the Communications Website Team Lead for timely posting to the HS PAC website.

Section 7. A quorum will consist of at least 50 percent attendance, either in person, by telephone or by videoconference, of the PAG’s voting membership. An alternate attending in lieu of the member shall be counted in determining the quorum requirement. A formalized count of members in favor should be included in meeting minutes.

Section 1. Each PAG will operate under three major Categories, with corresponding subcommittees: Operations – Awards Subcommittee, Communications Subcommittee and, Stakeholder and Community Engagement Subcommittee; Officer Support Recruitment Subcommittee (ad hoc), Education, Training, & Mentorship Subcommittee, Technical Readiness Subcommittee, and Data & Evaluation Subcommittee; Management – Policy Subcommittee, and Administrative Management Subcommittee. See Appendix A for PAG org chart template.
All the PAG subcommittees will be working hand-in-hand with the PAC subcommittees to fulfill the below subcommittee duties. PAGs will focus on the discipline-related aspects of their activities so that there will no overlap with the PAC subcommittees.

Section 2. All PAG Subcommittee Chairs shall be appointed by the PAG Chair. PAG Subcommittee Chairs must be voting members of the PAG and are required to deliver both an electronic version and verbal Subcommittee Status Report at each PAG meeting. Duties of each PAG Subcommittee are found in the following sections.

Section 3. Operations - Awards Subcommittee:
a. Administer (announce, process applications, and recommend candidates) PAG-specific and disseminate HS PAC/USPHS award nominations, to their membership
b. Collaborate with the HS PAC Awards subcommittee to manage approval of awards and maintain an inventory PAG awards for the PAC Chair and CPO

Section 4. Operations - Communications Subcommittee:
a. Collaborate with the HS PAC Communication Subcommittee to communicate all HS PAC and PHS information and directly disseminate discipline-specific information to their membership.
b. Maintain discipline-specific (post new documents, archive older documents, and keep all links up-to-date) the HS website and meet HS PAC deadlines
c. Responsible for the PAG newsletter, template management, developing and managing the PAG annual calendar of events that will inform the PAC calendar.

Section 5. Operations – Stakeholder and Community Engagement Committee:
a. Manage activities within the communities such as presentations at secondary schools and institutions of higher education, health fares, and other civic events
b. Foster and manage relationships with the professional organizations such as those represented by the membership in the PAG, sister military organizations, and academia
c. Share community and stakeholder engagement lessons learned for other PAGs

Section 6. Office Support – Recruitment Subcommittee (ad hoc):
a. The Recruitment & Retention Subcommittee is an ad hoc Subcommittee and can be filled with a non-voting member.
b. Not all disciplines recruit or review applicants on an annual basis. This subcommittee is stood up only during the time the recruitment and application review process for new officers in a specific PAG. Since this is an ad hoc subcommittee, the Chair for this Subcommittee can be a non-VM member selected by the PAG Chair.
c. Responsible for reviewing the application packet from potential candidates when there is an open application cycle in partnership with the HS PAC Recruitment and Retention Subcommittee

Section 7. Officer Support –Education, Training, & Mentorship Subcommittee:
a. Provide discipline-specific continuing education and trainings to include the use of outside speakers to ensure our officers remain current in their discipline 

b. Collaborate with the mentoring subcommittee to identify discipline-specific mentors as a component of the broader mentoring program
c. Provide a supportive mentoring role to the PAC mentoring subcommittee to select a mentor based on several factors such as agency, gender, rank, discipline, geographic location, etc.

Section 8. Officer Support – Technical Readiness Subcommittee
a. Determine what discipline-specific knowledge and skills an officer needs in order to successfully deploy based on their qualifying degree or discipline. PAG officers are expected to be able to effectively function during their deployment as their qualifying degree dictates hence, technical readiness
b. Serve as primary source of discipline-specialty information and training on response and deployment roles for the PAG, HS PAC and CC
c. Provide discipline-specific training response and readiness training opportunities
d. Disseminate information to the PAG on critical RedDOG readiness policies and information through the HS PAC Readiness Subcommittee and PAG/HS PAC Communication Subcommittees
e. Initiate other readiness and response projects as assigned by the PAG Chair and HS PAC Readiness Subcommittee
f. Collaborate and coordinate activities with the HS PAC Readiness Subcommittee

Section 9. Officer Support- Data & Evaluation Subcommittee
a. Responsible for working with the HITPAG and the Analytic subcommittee (proposed) to develop, disseminate, and analyze the surveys and other data from the PAG
b. PAGs will provide a supportive and/or content expertise to the analytic subcommittee

Section 10. Policy Subcommittee
a. Annual review and provide comments on discipline-specific PHS appointment standards, licensure, and certifications requirements and other discipline specific needs
b. Annual address, revise, update, and recommend PAG/HS PAC/CC policy-related issues, and develop white papers and decision memos on behalf of the PAG to the HS PAC Policy Subcommittee
c. Annually address, revise, update, and recommend HS policy-related issues, white papers and others as required by the CPO, HS PAC Chair, and HS PAC Policy Subcommittee Chair 

Section 11. Management – Administrative Management Subcommittee
a. Annually review/update the Uniform PAG Bylaw and SOP
b. Solicit for new PAG members and manage the VM nomination/selection process
c. Maintain the PAG Listserv and official membership roster (i.e., maintain an up-to-date list of all subscribers)

The general procedure of meetings of the PAG shall follow the “Roberts Rules of Order, Newly Revised” on parliamentary procedure insofar as they do not conflict with any provisions of the HS PAC Charter and these Bylaws.