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Transformation - An Exciting Chapter for the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service
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Your
response to the Gulf Coast Hurricanes in recent years, the terrorist attacks in
2001, and countless other public health disasters, threats, and challenges over
the last decade have highlighted the importance of the Commissioned Corps of
the U.S. Public Health Service (Corps) in fulfilling the important activities
of protecting America’s public health and responding when states or local
communities request assistance. Secretary Leavitt has recognized the importance
of the Corps and has provided the leadership necessary, building upon the
efforts of Assistant Secretaries for Health, Surgeons General, and agency
heads, to transform the Corps’ mission, vision, readiness, and force
management.
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Recognizing the importance of communicating with
officers, civilians who supervise officers, and others with a stake in the
outcome of Transformation, we are preparing to launch a multifaceted
communication strategy. Each month, an update on significant
transformation-related activities will be published in the electronic
Commissioned Corps Bulletin and distributed more broadly through the
listserv and, when appropriate, HHS News. A website will be created that
links from the Commissioned Corps Management Information
System (CCMIS) website and contains historical reference documents, sections for
information regarding each of the implementation components, contact information for the officers
responsible for each component, an interactive feature to allow officers to provide
suggestions and feedback on the Transformation, a Frequently Asked Questions
section, and archives of the monthly
updates.
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| Since 2003, when Secretary Thompson first
announced the broad initiative to make significant changes in the force
composition, strength and management of the Corps, we have been planning for
the implementation. Secretary Leavitt, building on this first initiative, has
made many more specific and far-reaching decisions about the Corps. These
decisions support the development of the Corps’ full potential as an essential
national resource to meet critical mission requirements, respond rapidly to
urgent public health challenges and health care emergencies, and to address
clinical and public health needs in isolated, hardship, hazardous and other
difficult-to-fill positions, and, when necessary, to address humanitarian,
security, and defense needs of the Nation. Over the last 3 years, a great deal
of work has gone into identifying the changes that must be made to achieve the
Secretary’s vision.
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| One of the first major tasks was to
outline the Transformation options and gain feedback from the agencies in which
officers serve. This work focused on such critical concepts as readiness,
recruitment and training, officer profiles and classification, position
identification and allocation, billets, assignments, and filling
difficult-to-fill jobs. During his Departmental leadership consultations in
2005, Secretary Leavitt energized the Transformation process by articulating
his vision for the Corps.
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| On January 18, 2006, Secretary Leavitt
shared his vision of the Corps’ transformation with an audience of hundreds of
officers at the Department of Health and Human Services headquarters. Shortly
thereafter, the Deputy Secretary, Alex Azar, organized five interagency
workgroups to formulate the detailed recommendations required to implement the
Secretary’s transformation decisions. The approved recommendations from these
workgroups, after the Secretary’s consultation with the heads of the
Department’s Operating and Staff Divisions, have been combined into an
Implementation Plan that will shortly be available on the CCMIS website.
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| To carry out the Secretary’s
Implementation Plan, the Offices of Commissioned Corps Operations (OCCO) and
Force Management (OCCFM) recently hired 12 officers to lead the various
planning components. Working with the Corps’ and Department’s leadership, these
Transformation Officers will develop the concepts for recruitment, creating
officer profiles and billet systems that will aid with making assignments,
filling 3H positions, creating functional groupings of officers, classifying
positions, determining billet description content, articulating training
objectives and indicators, determining the career development needs and
developing the integrated fashion in which each of these activities will
function efficiently. From their efforts, new policies, management systems, and
business processes will be developed. Additionally, each of these activities
will require a significant enhancement of our information systems in order to
function effectively and efficiently.
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Secretary Leavitt has designated “Commissioned Corps
Renewal” as one of his priorities for his tenure with the Department. He
is fully supportive and actively engaged in the ongoing efforts to
transform our Service. He has set lofty goals which will require
significant effort from all of our officers to achieve. Thank you for your
dedication to the Corps and on-going commitment to the
Transformation.
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