Commissioned Corps BulletinJanuary 2nd, 2019

New Readiness Compliance POM (POM 821.69)

A new Readiness Compliance Personnel Operations Memorandum (POM 821.69) for U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers is now available. Commissioned Corps POM 821.69 contains the operating procedures managing the enforcement of basic readiness standards compliance for Commissioned Corps officers.

This policy applies to all Commissioned Corps officers.

Core Components of the Readiness Compliance POM (POM 821.69):

• The POM is effective January 1, 2019.
• Actions will be taken for single, consecutive, and non-consecutive (over a 24 month period) failure to meet readiness requirements.
• The official readiness compliance reports for the Commissioned Corps will be completed within the first five days of the month. The date of the report stands as the start date of all deadlines.
• Officers who fail to meet the requirements of readiness have 30 days to correct deficiencies. Officers who do not comply within 30, 60, and 90 days will receive the following actions.
  1. Officers who do not complete and update deficient readiness requirements within 30
     • Officers will be non-deployable by the Corps;
     • Officers are not eligible to receive temporary or permanent grade promotions in accordance with Commissioned Corps Instruction CI 331.01 “Permanent Grade Promotion,” and CCI 332.01, “Temporary Grade Promotions;
     • Notification will be sent to the officer’s Supervisor, Commissioned Corps Agency Liaison and the Division of Commissioned Corps Personnel and Readiness (DCCPR)Adverse Actions Officer regarding non-compliance with readiness requirements;
     • Issuance of a Letter of Counselling (LOC) by the DCCPR Adverse Actions Officer;
     • Officers may be subject to additional adverse actions as defined by policy CCD 111.02 “Disciplinary Actions,” CCD 123.01 “Involuntary Separations,” and CCI 385.01 “Involuntary Retirement (20 Years)”.
  2. Officers who do not complete and update deficient readiness requirements within 60 days are subject to the following actions:
     • Officers will be non-deployable by the Corps;
     • Officers are not eligible to receive temporary or permanent grade promotions in accordance with Commissioned Corps Instruction CCI 331.01 “Permanent Grade Promotion,” and CCI 332.01, “Temporary Grade Promotions;
     • Notification will be sent to the officer’s Supervisor, Commissioned Corps Agency Liaison and the DCCPR Adverse Actions Officer regarding non-compliance with readiness requirements;
     • Issuance of a Letter of Reprimand (LOR) by the Director DCCPR or his/her designee;
     • Officers may be subject to additional adverse actions as defined by policy CCD 111.02 “Disciplinary Actions,” CCD 123.01 “Involuntary Separations,” and CCI 385.01 “Involuntary Retirement (20 Years)”.
  3. Officers who do not complete and update deficient readiness requirements within 90 days are subject to the following actions:
     • Officers will be non-deployable by the Corps;
     • Officers are not eligible to receive temporary or permanent grade promotions in accordance with Commissioned Corps Instruction CCI 331.01 “Permanent Grade Promotion,” and CI 332.01, “Temporary Grade Promotions;
     • Notification will be sent to the officer’s Supervisor, Commissioned Corps Agency Liaison and the DCCPR Adverse Actions Officer regarding non-compliance with readiness requirements;
     • Referral to the appropriate board for personnel action. Appropriate boards may include an Involuntary Retirement Board (IRB), Involuntary Termination Board (ITB), or a Board of Inquiry (BOI);
     • Officers may be subject to additional adverse actions as defined by policy CCD 111.02 “Disciplinary Actions,” CCD 123.01 “Involuntary Separations,” and CCI 385.01 “Involuntary Retirement (20 Years)”.
• Officers who fail to meet basic readiness 3 non-consecutive months within a 24 month period will be subject to all actions as defined above under bullet 1 (not ready for 30 days).
• Officers who fail to meet basic readiness 4 non-consecutive months within a 24 month period will be subject to all actions as defined above under bullet 2 (not ready for 60 days).
• Officers who fail to meet basic readiness 5 non-consecutive months within a 24 month period will be subject to all actions as defined above under bullet 3 (not ready for 90 days).

Officers with an approved medical waiver through Medical Affairs will not be accessed for the specific readiness requirements included in the waiver. If all other readiness requirements not included in the waiver are met, the officer is in compliance.

POM 821.69 is located in Book 8, Chapter 2, and Section 1, of the Commissioned Corps Issuances System. The policy is also listed under the Issuances section of the Commissioned Corps Management Information System homepage.

On June 22, 2018 the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH) approved CCI 241.01 “Readiness and Duty Requirements”. This CCI was updated with approval of the ASH on December 3, 2018 to:

• Clarify the expectations of officers in selecting a deployment role,
• Change the clinical hours’ requirement from 120 hours to 80 hours per year, and
• Authorize the U.S. Surgeon General to establish additional health standards for deployments to environments with limited healthcare and logistic resources.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are provided below. If you have additional questions, please contact CDR Kyle Lyons, Senior Adverse Actions Officer by email at james.lyons@hhs.gov or call 240-453-6098.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)

Newer articles Earlier articles