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The USPHS Commissioned Corps is committed to our mission to protect, promote, and advance the health and safety of the nation. Public Health Service officers are trained and equipped to provide crucial public health leadership, assist with policy development, advance innovation and science, provide essential care services and respond to national and global public health emergencies. Through our Active Duty Regular Corps, our Public Health Response Strike Team (PHERST) and our Ready Reserve Corps, we remain responsive and available to rapidly deploy in the service of health.
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Promotion Information
Promotion Process
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Who is reviewed by the Promotion Board?
All permanent grades, O-2 and above, and temporary grades O-4 and above are reviewed by a Promotion Board. (Exception: For Medical and Dental Categories, Temporary O-4 is non-competitive).
What is a Promotion Board?
A Promotion Board is an evaluation tool used to evaluate an officer’s performance. There are a total of 14 boards, one for each of the 11 categories in the Corps. For example, the Nurse, Pharmacy, and HSO categories are divided into an upper board and a lower board. Each Promotion Board is comprised of five temporary officers, comprised of:
- (1) Rear Admiral (non-category specific)
- (3) Captains (category specific)
- (1) Captain (non-category specific)
In addition, two to three additional officers are reserved in the selection process of board members to serve as alternates if needed to review the files of officers eligible for promotion.
Board members are chosen and appointed by the Surgeon General based on established eligibility criteria, with every effort made to ensure a cross-section reflective of the category or group they represent. Officers cannot serve on a board more than once every three years. Every officer serving on a board must take an oath to hold in confidence everything that is seen, read, or discussed while serving on the board.
When do the Promotion Boards meet?
Promotion boards meet each spring (typically from February to May) to review records of officers who will become eligible for promotion from July 1st of that year through June 30th of the following year. For example, a promotion board will meet in spring of 2023 to review all officers eligible for promotion from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.
What does the Promotion Board use to score officers?
The Promotion Board Review includes careful consideration of the officer's career as it relates to the four precepts upon which the Benchmarks are developed, and promotion recommendations are based upon. These four precepts are:
- Performance rating and Reviewing Official’s Statement (ROS): 40%
- Education, Training, and Professional Development: 20%
- Career Progression and Potential: 25%
- Professional Contributions, basic level of force readiness history, and services to the Corps: 15%
- In evaluating an officer for promotion, the board references the Benchmarks established by the Chief Professional Officers for the "best qualified" officer. The board compares the officer, as reflected in the eOPF, against the theoretical "best qualified" officer. This "best qualified" officer is the only competition for any one officer being reviewed by a Promotion Board.
What does/doesn’t the Promotion Board see?
The Promotion Board members have access to and will review many items in an officer's eOPF. The "Commissioned Officers' Effectiveness Report" (COER) provides specific information about the current and previous year's duties, accomplishments, and goals. An up-to-date Curriculum Vitae (CV) is essential for outlining primary responsibilities and outcomes demonstrating progressive growth in an officer's career and a continued increase in professional value to the Corps. The CV is a critical document used by the Promotion Board to score all precepts. Officers are REQUIRED to follow the One-CV format. The Reviewing Official Statement (ROS) and the Officer Statement (OS) are important promotion documents that are integral to the board review process. The Promotion Board members focus on many documents, including:
- COERs/ROS (last 5 years)
- PIR
- CV
- Continuing Education
- OS
- Letters/Certificates of Appreciation
- Awards
- Licenses/Certifications/Credentials
- Readiness Status and History
The Promotion Board members do not have access to:
- Medical information
- Compensation information
- Personal information, e.g., marriage/divorce, birth certificates, insurance
- Previous board scores/score sheets
- OS from previous years
There are no scoring procedures which establish lower success rates or scores for officers previously considered for promotion. The board is not aware of who has been unsuccessful for promotion in previous years. This is the reason that boards do not see any previous board scores, score sheets, OS, etc.
How does the Promotion Board score officers?
Promotion Board scoring consists of two parts. The first part is an overall promotion recommendation by the board. For permanent grade and temporary grade, the options are “recommend” or “not-recommend.” For a description of each of these promotion recommendations, refer to the Promotion Board Recommendations section on the Promotion Information website.
The second part of the score is a numerical score used to generate a rank-order list of all officers eligible for promotion within a specific category and grade. The second part of the score is a numerical score used to generate a rank-order list of all officers eligible for promotion within a specific category and grade. Each officer eligible for promotion is scored by each board member on each of the four precepts using a scale of 0-100 in five point increments. Once the board members score all officers in their category, the board members’ scores are averaged for each precept and multiplied by the weight of each precept to get an overall precept score. Each weighted precept score is added together to get an overall promotion board score.
What if a Board Member knows the officer he/she is scoring?
Promotion Boards are charged to review authorized sections of the eOPF and score according to its contents only. Board members are instructed that they are not to consider or discuss any anecdotal information during the promotion process. If a board member is not able to objectively score an officer for any reason, he/she is asked to recuse him/herself from scoring that officer. If this occurs, the officer’s score is an average of the remaining four board members.
What if there is a tie in scoring?
If there is a tie between two officers eligible for the same rank in the same category, the tie is broken using the following criteria, in order, until the tie is broken:
- Higher permanent grade has relative standing over lower permanent grade
- Seniority Credit
- Years of active duty Corps service
- Years of active duty service in any uniformed service and at any rank
How is it determined who is successful for promotion and who is not?
The officers are rank ordered in sequential order of their promotion board scores creating a rank order list. The number of officers promoted depends on the requirements of the Corps in each grade as determined by the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH) in consultation with the Surgeon General (SG). These success rates are multiplied by the total number eligible in each category for each grade to determine the total number of people promoted within each category and for each grade. These numbers are applied to the rank order list and a success line is drawn. Those above the line on the rank order list are successful; those below the line are not successful.
Are all those above the success line promoted?
Once the successful list is created, officers on the list are reviewed for administrative checks. For temporary promotion, the files of successful officers are checked to ensure:
- There are no missing COERs for the last five (5) years (as applicable) and the most recent COER is Satisfactory or Marginal;
- There are no current or pending adverse administrative actions;
- There is a current valid license/certification on file with CCHQ, if required; and
- Readiness and Deployment Branch (RDB) reports readiness standards are met.
Only officers who are above the promotion success line and meet all administrative requirements will be promoted.
How will an officer know what the Promotion Board scored or recommended?
All officers reviewed for promotion will have a Score Sheet and a Promotion Information Report (PIR) in the Confidential Documents section of the eOPF. This Score Sheet provides each precept score, and the number of recommends/not recommends/recusals. If an officer is considered for a temporary and permanent promotion, there will be score sheets and PIRs for both grades in the Confidential Documents section of the eOPF. In most cases, the scores the officer receives for temporary and permanent grades will be the same. The scores may differ, since board members may review the officer’s eOPF and score each type of promotion independently.
Last Updated: 8/22/22