Hearing of the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee - Opening Statement of Rep. Heck, Hearing on "Military Treatment Facilities"

Hearing

"Today the Subcommittee meets to hear testimony on military treatment facilities, or MTFs, which are the medical centers, hospitals, and clinics that are owned and operated by the Department of Defense and the military services.

For decades, military treatment facilities have been recognized as the foundation of military medical care. They are the primary location for active duty military to receive treatment and are the training and education platforms for medical providers worldwide. Every member of the military health care team, me included, has spent time in MTFs. If you have served in the military, chances are you have received care in an MTF for everything from immunizations, to routine health screenings prior to deploying to witnessing the birth of your children. Depending on the size and location, MTFs provide a wide range of medical services to active duty, active duty family members, retirees and retiree family members.

However, military health care, alongside civilian health care, has evolved and we have seen many changes to MTFs. The certainty that a military installation will have a full service medical facility is a thing of the past. For example, in 1989 there were more than 500 military medical facilities worldwide-- 168 military hospitals and hundreds of clinics. Today, there are 55 hospitals and 360 clinics for a total of 415 MTFs. Large medical centers, such as Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center, once considered an enduring capability have closed.

The reasons for some of these changes are varied. Health care has largely shifted from being inpatient focused to outpatient settings such as ambulatory surgery and care models such as patient centered medical homes. Another reason, unique to military medicine, realignment of troop units and closure of military installations has shifted the need for medical care to follow suit.

So the question we now ask is what is the future of military treatment facilities? How do they maintain the primary mission of readiness of the force and ready medical professionals? Are MTFs currently situated to support the readiness mission along with the mission to provide care to their beneficiaries?

I am interested to hear from our witnesses about the challenges of running an MTF. How are MTFs different than civilian medical facilities? How does MTF leadership balance readiness requirements and the needs of the beneficiary population, including service members, family members and retirees? And finally, what can we do to ensure the military health system has trained and ready providers to support the readiness of the force and provide a valued health benefit to our beneficiaries?

We are joined today by an outstanding panel. Given the size of our panel and our desire to give each witness the opportunity to present his or her testimony and each member an opportunity to question the witnesses, I would respectfully remind the witnesses to summarize, to the greatest extent possible, the high points of your written testimony in 5 minutes. I assure you that your written comments and statements will be made part of the hearing record.

Let me welcome our panel:

Colonel Mike Heimall, USA Chief of Staff, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Defense Health Agency

Colonel Mike Place Commander, Madigan Army Medical Center, Joint Base Lewis McChord

Captain Rick Freedman, USNCommanding Officer, Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune

Colonel Douglas Littlefield, USAF Commander of the 19th Medical Group at Little Rock Air Force Base"

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