What do employees of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, National Naval Medical Center (Bethesda, Md.), DeWitt Army Community Hospital (Fort Belvoir, Va.) and the 79th Medical Wing have in common?
All will, in some way, become part of the transformation of military health care in the National Capital Region ó a future that combines the best of Army, Navy and Air Force medical cultures into a new joint culture of medical excellence.
The Joint Task Force-Capital Medicine (JTF-CapMed) Civilian Human Resources Council (CHRC), made up of senior leaders from the major medical facilities in the NCR, was created to ensure the best possible outcome for civilian employees as the new regional healthcare model is implemented.
The charter members of the new council are: Col. Dennis Doyle, deputy commander for administration at Walter Reed; Capt. Dan Zinder, deputy commander at the National Naval Medical Center; Col. Dan Gall, deputy commander for administration at DeWitt Army Community Hospital; Shelia Relerford, human resources program advisor, Air Force District of Washington; Debra Edmond, special assistant for civilian human resources to the commander of JTF CapMed; Maureen Viall, chief human capital officer for the Military Health System, who will serve as a special advisor to the Council and will work with the group to ensure that future plans are aligned with the overarching MHS Human Capital Plan.
In September, the commander of JTF- CapMed chartered the council to develop and implement a plan that will carry out the provisions of an overall regional civilian human resources policy. The current focus of the Council is to:
Ensure the guaranteed placement of civilian personnel assigned to WRAMC and some activities in direct support of the hospital who remain at WRAMC through Base Realignment and Closure transition.
Fully utilize available incentives and pay flexibilities to achieve Walter Reed sustainment and the availability of needed skills across the region.
Provide for a phased approach designed to maximize the movement of current employees to their preferred locations and the recruitment of new employees with designated 2011 duty stations in order to avoid involuntary displacements and to ensure that Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the new Community Hospital at Fort Belvoir have trained and ready staffs when the new facilities are available.
Two decisions reached by the council are all medical civilian staff at the new Walter Reed Military Medical Center and the new Community Hospital at Fort Belvoir will be Department of Defense (DoD) civilian employees, not Army, Navy or Air Force civilian employees. Also, a Guaranteed Placement Program (GPP) will be implemented at WRAMC to encourage current civilian employees to remain through the facility’s closure.
Additional information about the transition and the future medical civilian workforce in the NCR will be posted on www.JTFCAPMED.mil. (JTF-CAPMED release)
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