| Functional Classification of Billets |
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Submitted by CDR John Eckert, USPHS Senior Public Health Advisor for Transformation |
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Our current billet descriptions do not provide sufficient information to assist officers with planning their careers in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service (Corps). Moreover, with the migration of all of our HR IT functions to Direct Access, the Corps will (over time) more fully develop the Career and Assignment Manager roles within the Office of Commissioned Corps Operations to provide support to officers with career development and planning. To facilitate that evolution, beginning this summer, each of the billets encumbered by a Corps officer will be written in a new format that will provide substantially more information about the positions’ duties/responsibilities, as well as the requirements of the officers who encumber them.
Among the new pieces of information contained in the new billets will be a “Functional Group” classification. To better manage the Corps and to provide a little more granular information on the Corps’ capacities, four Functional Classifications have been developed and each billet will be classified into one of these groups based upon the majority focus of the billet. The Functional Classifications are Clinical, Applied Public Health, Research, and Mental Health. Another important role of the Functional Classification is to facilitate discussion of issues that transcend the traditional Category structure. When issues arise that affect multiple Professional Advisory Committees (PACs) and relate to one of the four Functional Classifications, the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) may establish a Functional Advisory Committee comprised of representatives from the appropriate PACs/Categories to discuss the issues and advise the OSG on the impact of the specific issues on Corps operations, force management, etc. This will offer the OSG another perspective on issues, especially those that cut across the traditional Category lines. The Functional Classification of billets will not impact your deployment role. You may encumber an Applied Public Health billet within a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Operating Division/Staff Division or non-HHS organization; however, you may deploy as a provider of clinical services. |