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Transformation Update
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| The Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health
Service (Corps) is undergoing transformation in order to more effectively
and efficiently meet its mission of “protecting, promoting, and advancing
the health and safety of the Nation.” As was outlined in last month’s update, transformation will significantly enhance
the Corps’ business processes related to officer recruitment, accessions,
assignments, training, career development, readiness and response, and the Information Systems
that support each of these activities. Together, these changes will enable the Corps
to meet the needs of the Department of Health and
Human Services (Department or HHS), adapt quickly to
changes in those needs, and continue to excel at its
historical role of providing public health and clinical services to agencies
and underserved populations. |
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The Commissioned
Corps Transformation Implementation Plan, containing the force management changes approved
by Secretary Leavitt, has been distributed to Corps leaders, Chief
Professional Officers (CPOs), Professional Advisory Committee (PAC)
members, and other stakeholders. It is posted on the Commissioned Corps
Management Information System (CCMIS) Web site at http://dcp.psc.gov, and all officers are
strongly urged to read it. It provides detailed information on the manner in which the Corps
will be organized and managed once transformation is fully implemented. The major areas of focus
in the Plan are briefly described
below.
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| Sizing: The
Corps will expand by 10 percent to total active duty force strength of 6,600.
To meet the critical agency missions and the readiness and deployment
requirements of the Corps, setting of agency position allocation goals may be
necessary. It will be important that positions be available at junior-, mid-
and senior-levels in order to accommodate the Corps’ growth and allow for
career progression and mobility within and between agencies. Plans are now
being put into place by HHS’ agencies to emphasize the hiring of Corps
officers. When funds are appropriated for the Health and Medical Response
(HAMR) teams, as many as 210 additional officers will be added to the force.
Additional expansion is projected in immigration health programs and other PHS
activities.
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| Recruitment: In
addition to achieving a 10 percent increase in the total active duty force
strength of the Corps, the overall recruitment system will be improved. Efforts
will be geared toward recruiting officers both to the Corps at large and to
specific positions. These activities must be timed for success by recruiting
potential officers who are in the midst of their career-decision process.
Accessions will be streamlined through the development of an electronic Call to
Active Duty system. New materials that promote the Corps are being developed
and distributed, and incentive packages will be developed and advertised to new
recruits in order to make the Corps a more attractive career opportunity.
Recruitment for HAMR team members has already begun and a new advertising
campaign will start in 2007.
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| Functional Groups:
In order to enhance readiness and deployment, recruitment and assignment, and
career development of its officers, and to shape the Corps through the
promotion process, the Corps will begin characterizing its officers not only by
their profession, but by their clinical, applied public health, mental health
and research roles as well, both for the functional roles they play within
their agencies and while in deployment status. Likewise, position vacancies
will highlight the functional group that is sought. By coupling the officers’
profiles (including their functional groups) with robust assignments and
deployment systems, officers with the appropriate clinical, applied public
health, research, and mental health background can be referred to selecting
officials or deployed in response to a public health emergency.
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| Training and Career Development:
Upon their call to active duty, officers will be required to attend a 2-week
orientation course that will ensure that each meets the basic readiness
requirements for deployment, informs them of the role of the PHS and its
agencies, instills in them a sense of the responsibilities of officership and
elaborates opportunities for career development. The current Basic Officer
Training Course will be expanded to mirror similar 2-week officer orientation
courses offered to personnel in the medical, basic science and medical service
corps of the armed forces. Also included in long-term planning will be more
senior officer development activities in a more structured program for
intermediate, advanced and executive leadership officer development.
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| Position Classification:
Each position encumbered by a Corps officer will be identified by a unique
billet that describes the professional qualifications of the incumbent, the
officer’s functional role, duties that are specific to the billet and the
career pathway in which the billet fits. Position vacancies for which Corps
officers may compete will include the same information. Detailed billet
descriptions will also enable officers to take a proactive approach to managing
their career progression and future assignments and facilitate officer
assignments.
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| Assignments: Transformation,
to be successful, must create and maintain systems whereby the Corps can
readily support the critical missions of the Department. Effective force
management requires that the system be able to maintain up-to-date officer
profiles, accessed by their official personnel files. These profiles and
databases will support the referral of officer candidates to selection
officials as positions become available.
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| The Officer Profile system will provide a
list of qualified officers based upon the criteria established by the agency to
supervisors and selecting officials during their search. The Corps will develop
the Officer Profile system, maintain it, refer candidates for vacant positions,
develop appropriate benchmarks for career development, identify appropriate
positions for rotation and assist as “detailers” according to the Department of
Defense model.
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| Included among the important Department
needs are positions that are historically difficult to fill, involve
significant hardship for the incumbent and his/her family, are in
remote/isolated locations and those that subject the officers to hazardous
working conditions. The new recruitment, assignment, classification, training
and career development systems will enable the Corps to identify specific
needs, target recruitment accordingly, and assign officers rapidly for 2-4 year
tours to address the needs, develop their functional skills as needed and
rotate them through continued targeted recruitment of replacement officers.
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| Readiness: The
Department is required to mount robust responses to public health emergencies.
The revitalized Corps will consist of an organized, tiered response structure.
The teams and the magnitude of the response will be tailored to the severity of
the event and the specialties required. Much has already been written about
this, and more details will be provided in future updates.
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| This article provides a brief glimpse of
the details of transformation. It is important that each officer read the Commissioned
Corps Transformation Implementation Plan which is posted on the CCMIS
Web site. It is equally important that officers engage in the transformation
process. CPOs, Commissioned Corps Liaisons, PACs, Junior Officer Advisory
Group, Minority Officers Liaison Council, and the Corps’ leadership will be
asking for officers to assist with transformation’s implementation. Each of you
is urged to answer that call.
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