• Medical Affairs

  Deployment Health Assessments

  Deployment health is a subset of force health protection that focuses on health-related activities and measures to assess and minimize health risks associated with deployment, ensuring the well-being of officers throughout the three phases of deployment (pre-, during, and post-deployment).

  Pre-Deployment

  • Pre-deployment Health Brief: Prevention is an important part of force health protection for deployed officers, which includes measures to protect the health and safety of officers. Assessing the nature of the deployment environment, potential public health risks, logistics, and physical requirements of the mission can help to reduce the risk of harm and prevent illnesses and injuries. The aim of the pre-deployment health brief is to provide the health mitigation risk measures to prepare officers for deployment and be successful in accomplishing the mission.
  • Deployment Health Assessment: Officers are requested to complete deployment health screen (MS-Form) that included in the pre-mobilization email from Readiness and Deployment Branch (RDB) within 24 of receipt.

  During Deployment

  Deployment Health Officer (DHO) within the Medical Affairs Branch will:

  • Assist with health and wellbeing considerations related to deployment
  • Provide guidance on individualized mission medical plan (ICS-206)
  • Assist officers to seek specialized care as needed
  • Ensure completion of administrative medical documents
  • Archive medical documents in officer permanent digital medical record (e.g., DA Form 2173, etc.)
  • Advocate for emergency demobilization of officer based on wellbeing and/or injury/illness sustained affecting ability to complete mission

  Post-Deployment

  Deployment Health Officer (DHO) within the Medical Affairs Branch will:

  • Serve as point of contact for officers who become aware of illness and/or injury immediately after demobilization that seemed tied to deployment
  • Assist with processing medical documentation into the officer’s permanent digital medical record
  • Provide medical consultation to Reserve Affairs regarding the Line of Duty considerations for Reserve officers
  • Review and follow up on post-deployment health assessments

  Medical Readiness Categories

  Medical Affairs Branch (MAB) uses Medical Readiness Categories (MRCs) to communicate internally to RDB about an officer’s medical deployment status without disclosing protected health information. There are four categories:

  • MRC-1: Fully deployable without limitation(s).
  • MRC-2: Deployable with limitations or specific needs.
  • MRC-3: Non-deployable, usually requiring a medical waiver.
  • MRC-4: Critical information pending, currently non-deployable. Usually related to a medical/dental issue requiring immediate attention, preventing deployment.

  Officers are assigned an MRC after review of medical documentation by MAB. The assigned category is transmitted digitally to RDB without disclosing any protected health information (PHI). Please check FAQs for further information regarding MRCs.

  Unfortunately, officers cannot yet see their assigned MRC on their Readiness dashboard. We hope that will be possible in the future.

  
  

  Medical Waiver

  Protecting the health and safety of the USPHS officers is a priority. When officers have health conditions that make it unsafe for them to deployment or complete some readiness requirements, they are required to request deployment waiver within 7 days but no later than 21 days after being diagnosed of medical conditions that prevent the officer from deploying.

  Please click this link to learn more about Medical Waiver Program.

  
  

  Deployment Health Assessments

  To meet the Surgeon General and Commissioned Corps Headquarters’ priority of safely deploying officers to meet the mission of the U. S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, the MAB and RDB/Corps Care have established the Deployment Health Assessment (DHA) for officers to express and formally document their health and safety concerns regarding deployments. The DHA will be administered to officer through our contractor, Optum Serve.

  The DHA will contain a series of questions developed specifically for officers. It will also contain validated behavioral health screening questions for anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and alcohol use. The MAB and Corps Care officers with clinical background will contact you to make sure that the issues occurred during deployment you raised are addressed.

  DHAs will start to be incorporated into the deployment process. Not all officers who are rostered to deploy will be asked to complete a DHA. For example, PHS officers who deploy virtually or who deploy for less than one week will not be directed to complete a DHA.

  If you are directed to participate, the following will happen:

  1. You will receive a notification through text or email from Optum Serve.
  2. You will be directed to access the Optum Serve secure portal to set up a one-time account and choose how you want to be contacted (text or email). Your initial communications from Optum Serve will contain a unique identifier that you must use to set up your account.
  3. Once your account is set-up, you will be directed to complete an online health questionnaire. The online portion of the DHA can be completed at any time, 24/7.
  4. After you complete the questionnaire, you will be directed to contact the Optum Serve call center to talk briefly with one of their healthcare professionals. That individual will clarify any answers, if needed, and ask you some additional questions. The call center is available from 0700-2000 Central time, Monday-Friday, and 0700-1200, Saturday and Sunday.
  5. Once the entire DHA is complete, MAB will obtain it from Optum Serve and review it. If you report any health-related issues that arose during your deployment, MAB and/or Corps Care will reach out to ensure that they are addressed.

  DHAs are considered PHI and will be handled accordingly. Only clinical staff within Optum Serve and CCHQ (MAB and Corps Care) will have access to the DHAs, and they will be placed in your digital medical folder after review. Your individual responses to health-related questions WILL NOT be shared with the deployment team, your supervisor, or your agency liaison. Deployment and/or safety concerns that you raise in the post-DHA will be discussed with RDB to implement solutions.

  Please understand, the DHA is not a replacement for the medical waiver process. You are still responsible for submitting a medical deployment waiver request as soon as you or your provider feel that you developed a health issue which prevents you from safely deploying.

  Last Updated: 09/25/2025
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