Another downsizing project

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Monty Python said:
Deja vu, once again.

www.militarytimes.com

Defense officials considering cuts to military treatment facilities

Officials are examining facilities across the military medical system, which could mean closing some facilities or downgrading some hospitals to clinics.
www.militarytimes.com www.militarytimes.com
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“Where are our patients going? What are the scores in those facilities? Are those facilities doing better than we are?” Case said.“


Honest question. Is there any military hospital anywhere in the US where it is the preferred location for care as evidenced by retirees and dependents desperately trying to stay on base instead of going off base?
 
Deja Vu implies reality changed in some interim time frame. This is every day for the last 10ish years. Rebalance, Right size to match demand. Truth is we cut and sent too many out in town across the board. Only place they are trying to reattract are the facilities to be maintained or built up.

We have had a few congressionals from retirees who want to stay empaneled to the MTF 🤷‍♂️ If we can get volume/complexity back to where it was mid 2010’s I think most would prefer to stay.
 
militaryPHYS said:
Deja Vu implies reality changed in some interim time frame. This is every day for the last 10ish years. Rebalance, Right size to match demand. Truth is we cut and sent too many out in town across the board. Only place they are trying to reattract are the facilities to be maintained or built up.

We have had a few congressionals from retirees who want to stay empaneled to the MTF 🤷‍♂️ If we can get volume/complexity back to where it was mid 2010’s I think most would prefer to stay.
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I was at an MTF in a relative "medical desert," with busy OB and several surgery lines, identified in the early 2010's for downsizing from an inpatient facility to a clinic. This was part of the DOD-wide study. Tricare used really subjective/incorrect data to justify their rationales. Fortunately the plan was ultimately nixed. I would hope any new effort is structured and conducted objectively and with accurate data.
 
Every MTF (across every service branch) was originally built to be a standalone facility with near full capabilities instead of a coordinated system with referral based care. You have to be honest that it makes no sense.

Combining service branch anssets and consolidating is the only way to run a hospital system and business. It even has to take in to account regional specifics (how many other trauma centers, cancer centers, etc exist across all hospital systems).

That’s a huge undertaking. And you’re right, a lot of the data is flawed but it has been recognized and overall the basis for decision making seems to be improving but who knows what will happen as leadership changes happen so frequently.
 
You walk the MTFs (at least the Navy ones), and they're ghost towns. Lobbies empty, Wards with hardly any patients. Common areas a paucity of foot traffic.

Where will the patient's go if they shut down MTFs? I don't know, but they're not at the MTFs to begin with.
 
Seems like it was about 20 minutes ago they'd earmarked $billions to hire more contract staff for these places.


Well ... I guess it was 6 whole months ago.

militaryPHYS

All Branch Topic (ABT) Thread '$43 B For Staffing MTF’s'

www.washingtontechnology.com

DHA chooses 11 for $43B medical staffing vehicle

These awards are for the unrestricted portion and the Defense Health Agency is still working on the small business track's source selection.
www.washingtontechnology.com www.washingtontechnology.com

DHA spending big money on staffing MTF’s. Building/expanding is a refreshing thing to hear.
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What can you say? Snip, snap,,,,snip, snap.
DHA/DoD healthcare is a complete s$%^show
 
DrMetal said:
You walk the MTFs (at least the Navy ones), and they're ghost towns. Lobbies empty, Wards with hardly any patients. Common areas a paucity of foot traffic.

Where will the patient's go if they shut down MTFs? I don't know, but they're not at the MTFs to begin with.
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My wife and I went to the Naval Hospital in Pensacola a few weeks ago for hepatitis A and typhoid boosters before an international trip. The staff was incredibly helpful and nice. But there were three navy corpsmen in the clinic and we were the only people there for the 20 or so minutes to get checked in, shots as well as the 20 minute wait after the shots. Hard to justify keeping a facility open with such little traffic.


Gorgeous facility that was pretty empty.
 
armytrainingsir said:
My wife and I went to the Naval Hospital in Pensacola a few weeks ago for hepatitis A and typhoid boosters before an international trip. The staff was incredibly helpful and nice. But there were three navy corpsmen in the clinic and we were the only people there for the 20 or so minutes to get checked in, shots as well as the 20 minute wait after the shots. Hard to justify keeping a facility open with such little traffic.


Gorgeous facility that was pretty empty.
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I always felt bad for Corpsmen who got assigned to Navy hospitals doing clerical and stockroom work.

Join the Navy to see the world. Learn some medical skills to be a medic and take care of Marines and sailors doing dangerous things in dangerous places. And then ...

I loved and appreciated the ones who got assigned to us as anesthesia techs. But I know they were disillusioned about serving out their commitments stocking our carts in the OR.
 
yeah I feel bad for a lot of corpsmen when it comes to their professional development opportunities. Even the ones that do get to go play with the marines aren’t always gaining skills that they can transfer to the civilian medical system.

The corpsmen who get c school for radiology are actually some of luckiest, they still have to pursue certification themselves but their jobs are actually transferable to the civilian sector.
 
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Why would you feel bad for them? I doubt they care how you feel. Mediocre, diverse duty stations and crummy assignments/leadership happens. It’s a known risk for everyone who signs up.

Individuals who get stuck at crummy duty stations can still make the most to improve themselves and the system around them. They can request follow on orders to a better spot. Or they get bitter and angry and get out. Either is fine, but I don’t feel bad for one vs the other.
 
militaryPHYS said:
Why would you feel bad for them? I doubt they care how you feel. Mediocre, diverse duty stations and crummy assignments/leadership happens. It’s a known risk for everyone who signs up.

Individuals who get stuck at crummy duty stations can still make the most to improve themselves and the system around them. They can request follow on orders to a better spot. Or they get bitter and angry and get out. Either is fine, but I don’t feel bad for one vs the other.
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WTF man

Getting hurt in an auto wreck is a known risk every time you get in a car, but it's OK to feel bad for people who get in car wrecks. Are you really so institutionalized now that you can't even feel empathy for people getting screwed by the system?


It's part of what's broadly wrong with milmed and the military in general: train people for a job and then put them someplace to rot, not doing that job. Even if you don't care about the people, you should care that it's wasteful.
 
militaryPHYS said:
You retired from the military. You know that every duty station cannot be perfect.

Lack of empathy for duty station assignment? You’ve run out of stuff to deploy that you’re using that? What a joke
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It's a testament to how institutionalized you've become that you think being a medically trained person assigned to a non-medical job for years at a time is merely a "not perfect" duty station.

And again -

militaryPHYS said:
Why would you feel bad for them? I doubt they care how you feel.
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Dude, c'mon. That's just toxic. It's not a acceptable work environment anywhere.

Normal people care about their coworkers, especially their subordinates.
 
Impressive use of current social trigger words.

As a leader I can choose to not feel bad for my subordinates who got stuck with a crummy duty station. I can instead choose to empower them and keep them engaged despite a bad assignment. I can teach them how to stay positive, find opportunities and not blame the system they volunteered for. I can go out of my way to personally keep them engaged clinically to the best of my ability even if the duty station isn’t good for it. I am forever in debt to the leaders who did this for me. They were so toxic.
 
militaryPHYS said:
Impressive use of current social trigger words.

As a leader I can choose to not feel bad for my subordinates who got stuck with a crummy duty station. I can instead choose to empower them and keep them engaged despite a bad assignment. I can teach them how to stay positive, find opportunities and not blame the system they volunteered for. I can go out of my way to personally keep them engaged clinically to the best of my ability even if the duty station isn’t good for it. I am forever in debt to the leaders who did this for me. They were so toxic.
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That's a pretty quick 180 turnaround from the tone of your previous post in which you were bewildered that I cared about my corpsmen and you asserted that they didn't care about me.

Glad you work with them to help them make the most of their time and opportunities.

I still think you're working really hard to miss the point but maybe it'll click with some time and distance.
 
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