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Military Health System

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Republic of Korea Army Soldiers from 302nd Battalion, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, ROK Army Aviation Command conduct casualty evacuation drills on U.S. Army CH-47F Chinook helicopters from B Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division/ROK-U.S. Combined Division on February 15, 2023 in Icheon, South Korea. The role players from the Republic of Korea Army donned medical moulage kits giving the U.S. Army aircrew members practical and realistic training of boarding ambulatory casualties on both the ROK Army CH-47D and U.S. Army CH-47F helicopters. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Frank Spatt)
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Our Strategy

Our Mission, Vision, and Values

Mission

The Military Health System's mission is to enable the Department of Defense to provide medically ready and ready medical forces by improving the health of all those entrusted to our care.

Vision

Our vision is to become the world’s role model of an integrated military system of health and readiness delivering technology-enabled, innovative, and military service-focused care in support of our nation’s military mission—anytime, anywhere.

Values

Helping People Achieve Greatness

We work in teams with passion, respect, and loyalty to create tomorrow’s leaders.

Selfless and Courageous Service

We honor those who serve and commit to the health needs of our nation’s warfighters, military families, and all beneficiaries. We have the courage to do what is right and go into harm’s way to save lives.

Caring, Healing, and Creating Health

 We are healers dedicated to our patients. We build trusting relationships to support our patients in taking control of their health. We are compassionate and committed to reducing disease, easing suffering, and achieving peak health and wellness.

Our Pillars and Strategic Goals

Our Pillars

Our MHS strategy supports the National Defense Strategy, the National Military Strategy, and the National Biodefense Strategy and Implementation Plan. MHS is an organization driven first by requirements.

Military health care supports experienced medical forces and builds a healthy Armed Forces. To accomplish our mission, the MHS strategy builds on three pillars.

Medically Ready Force

A medically ready force is experienced and includes strong individuals able to engage in combat operations. This force meets DOD medical requirements for deployment and partners with health care delivery.

Ready Medical Force

A healthy medical force ready to deploy is part of our health support network. Operational medical forces provide three of five health capabilities: Forward resuscitative care, en route care, and theater hospitalization. Strategic medical forces continue a cycle of medical readiness that supports health service definitive care and can include large-scale combat operations.

Health Care Delivery

Our health system delivers: medical care, screening, and treatment. All patients will receive care for mental and physical fitness.

Our Strategic Goals

Healthy, educated people take better care of people.

  • Invest In Our Workforce
    • Provide uniformed and civilian health professionals with education, training, and skills.
  • Deploy Ready Reliable Care
    • Improve safety and standardize processes that reduce errors in clinical and non-clinical areas.
    • Encourage transparency and accountability while valuing everyone’s input, regardless of rank.
  • Empower Our Workforce
    • Require safe, supportive environments.
    • Encourage healthy behaviors with leadership engagement at all levels to promote wellness and reduce burnout.

Efficiently generate and sustain medically ready and ready medical forces.

  • Increase Capacity and Capability to Care for Complex Patients
    • Reduce risks and meet demands for care from our patients.
    • Position military medical personnel in coordination with the military departments.
    • Improve civilian personnel hiring and retention.
    • Keep clinical skills current.
    • Thoughtfully invest in military medical hospitals and clinics and military dental clinics.
  • Improve Experience of Care
    • Create greater access to primary and specialty care.
    • Deliver patient-centered services.
    • Recognize the unique needs of each person and their right to make informed choices to achieve health and wellness.
  • Attract Beneficiaries
    • See more patients choosing military hospitals and clinics.
    • Keep the promise our nation makes to care for our beneficiaries, operate well, and continue clinical experiences for the ready medical force.

We must change health care delivery to keep up with rapid innovations and make effective use of our nation's resources.

  • Implement Digital Health
    • Integrate technology to connect the clinic to the home and battlefield.
    • Timely, accurate, and useful information for medical personnel.
    • Digital tools to give patients more choices.
  • Prioritize Medical Research and Development
    • Invest money to develop blood and blood products, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biomedical equipment, etc.
    • Discover new pathways of care to save future lives on the battlefield, restore the warfighter, and aid military responses to national emergencies.
  • Expand Biodefense Surveillance and Response Capabilities
    • Prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from biological threats.
    • Strengthen the national medical readiness posture.
    • Improve global health security.
  • Deliver Value-Based Care
    • Use resources to deliver quality, safe outcomes that matter to patients.

Resources must go to first responder care, en route care, theatre hospitalization, and definitive care. 

  • Define Health Care Requirements
    • Include more guidelines for Roles 1-4:
      • Role 1: Unit-level medical care.
      • Role 2: Forward trauma management and emergency medical treatment.
      • Role 3: Theater hospitalization.
      • Role 4: Definitive care.
    • Plan ahead, manage workforce and resources, keep clinical skills current, and reduce risk to other military requirements.
  • Facilitate Interoperability in the MHS
    • Strengthen links and relationships among all installations and missions.
    • Promote safe, quality care.
    • Responsibly manage resources and limit unwarranted duplication.
  • Reinforce Partnerships
    • Partner with federal agencies, allies and partners, and civilian health systems to support military missions.
    • Generate, sustain, and build health readiness.
  • Invest in Military Hospitals and Clinics
    • Build up medical force generation.
    • Deliver quality medical care.
    • Build and maintain workforce skills.
    • Prepare all locations to handle casualty reception.
    • Support and build centers of excellence.
Read the Military Health System Strategygoes to MHS Strategy

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Last Updated: December 18, 2024
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