# Presentation: 466809

## Transformation of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service

**Transformation of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service**

- 2003-Present

## History of this Transformation

- Secretary Thompson’s directive to transform the Corps (2003)
- Evolution of the Secretary’s directive
- Options papers (October 2004)
- Secretary Leavitt’s decisions and Vision (December 2005)
- Transformation Workgroups (February 2006)
- Implementation Plan (October 2006)
- Working Policy & Design Groups (ongoing)

**Notes:**
Following the 9/11 and anthrax attacks, Secretary Thompson ordered that the Corps be enhanced to respond more effectively to disasters (man-made and natural)
It was quickly realized that the Secretary’s directive could not be accomplished without significant improvements to the manner in which the force is managed (2003-2004)
The Department contracted with the Lewin Group to assist with studying the requirements to accomplish the Secretary’s directive; their report was released in 2003
Options to transform the Corps to meet the new response roles and total force management were provided to Secretary Thompson in the waning days of his administration.  He did not make decisions in light of his departure (October 2004)
In June 2005, a white paper was produced that described the size of the Corps and distribution of professional qualifications that would be required to respond to 1) hurricanes/natural disasters (“Basic”), 2) chemical weapons attack (“Achievable”) and 3) an anthrax attack (“Aggressive”)
Secretary Leavitt, along with the OPDIV/STAFFDIV Heads, decided upon the options related to Grouping of Officers, Billet System/Position Classification, Billet Content and Process, Assignments, Training and Career Development, and Recruitment.
Secretary Leavitt announced his decisions on the issues presented in the Options papers in December 2005 and directed that the Corps develop the concepts more fully
Five transformation workgroups were formed to develop detailed reports in the areas of 1) Readiness and Response, 2) Sizing of the Corps, 3) Recruitment, Training and Career Development, 4) Assignments and 5) Classification and Positions.  Reports completed in March 2006 (COVERED ON SLIDE 8)
In consultation with Agency Heads, Secretary Leavitt approved the majority of the content of the reports of the Transformation Workgroups and released the Implementation Plan in October 2006
Upon release of the plan, officers from each of the OPDIVs/STAFFDIVs and non-HHS agencies have been working to develop policy frameworks to implement the Secretary’s decisions

## Achieving the goals of shaping and managing the Corps

**Achieving the goals of shaping and managing the Corps**

## Goal: Force Management and Career Development/Officer Support

- Assess current and future needs of the Corps
- Respond proactively to changes in those needs
- Recruitment
- Selection
- Assignment
- Training
- Promotion and Assimilation
- Other Incentives

**Notes:**
The overarching goal of Transformation is to develop systems and business practices that will enable us to continually assess our current capabilities, measure future needs and identify gaps between the two.  
From the gap analysis (using a force management modeling tool), we will be able to effectively target our recruitment, selections and assignments to meet the unfulfilled and projected needs, develop training to address the future needs as they arise, tailor promotion and assimilation success rates such that they mirror the identified needs, and provide other incentives to officers and applicants to accept the challenges of the immediate and future needs of the Corps.

## Goal: Force Management and Career Development/Officer Support

- Assignment and selection systems to provide agencies with panels of qualified officers to fill their vacancies
- Training programs to develop leadership and emergency response skills throughout officers’ careers

**Notes:**
IT systems will be developed that compare officer professional qualifications and assignment histories with vacancy announcements and provide selecting officials with a panel of qualified officers for each of those positions.  
Our officers will be expected to provide leadership within their duty stations and during responses to public health emergencies.  As they progress in their careers, their level of leadership and responsibility will grow.  The Corps will develop training programs that will develop those leadership and emergency response skills throughout officers’ careers.

## Putting Flesh on the Bones of the Secretary’s Decisions on the Proposed Options

**Putting Flesh on the Bones of the Secretary’s Decisions on the Proposed Options**

## Transformation Workgroups (2006)

- Five workgroups with representation from each OPDIV/STAFFDIV and non-HHS agency to which officers are assigned
- Readiness and Response
- Sizing of the Corps
- Recruitment, Training and Career Development
- Assignments
- Classification and Positions
- Worked from Secretary’s decisions of December 2005

**Notes:**
Following Secretary Leavitt’s announcement of his decisions regarding how the Corps will be transformed, five workgroups were established to proved high-level detail to those decisions that would serve as the framework upon which new policies and business practices will be built.
These workgroups were comprised of officers from each of the OPDIVs/STAFFDIVs and non-HHS agencies to which officers are assigned. (over 200 officers all tolled)
The workgroups met weekly in January, February and part of March 2006 to develop the detailed framework for future policies related to:
Readiness and Response (RADM John Babb, Chair)
Sizing of the Corps (RADM Sam Shekar, Chair)
Recruitment, Training and Career Development (RADM Kerry Nesseler, Chair)
Assignments (RADM Eric Broderick, Chair)
Classification and Positions (CAPT Patricia Simone, Chair)

## Transformation Workgroups (2006)

- Reports finalized in March 2006
- Meetings among the OPDIV/STAFFDIV Heads and Secretary Leavitt to discuss the workgroup recommendations and decide on implementation plan
- Transformation Implementation Plan published in October 2006

**Notes:**
The Transformation Workgroup recommendations were presented in March 2006
Secretary Leavitt met with OPDIV/STAFFDIV Heads individually and collectively to discuss the recommendations from the Transformation Workgroups and developed an Implementation Plan with which the agency heads had concurred.
The Transformation Implementation Plan was released in October 2006 and posted on the CCMIS website.  All officers are encouraged to read the Plan and become familiar with the high-level vision for the transformed Corps.

## Transition from Framework to Policy Design and Development

**Transition from Framework to Policy Design and Development**

## Assumptions and Requirements

- The Corps must increase its force strength in order to effectively achieve its missions
- Force Management must take into consideration:
- Emergency response requirements
- Historical, public health role

**Notes:**
Some guiding principles grew out of the studies that led to the Secretary’s decisions on Transformation.  They lead to a number of assumptions and requirements that must be taken into consideration as the policies and business practices are developed.
The Sizing Paper from June 2005 pointed out that the Corps needs to increase its size in a predictable and targeted fashion in order to respond effectively to man-made and natural disasters.  Those predictions were validated during the Hurricane Katrina response.  Initially, the Corps should grow by 10% to a total active duty force strength of 6,600.
48% of the Corps’ 6,600 officers should be allotted to clinical positions
42% of the Corps’ 6,600 officers should encumber applied public health positions
Research and Mental Health professionals should comprise 5% of the total 6,600 officers each
The shaping of the Corps by professional skills must enable the Corps to continue in its historic role of providing basic public health and clinical services to the underserved while concurrently enhancing its emergency response requirements.  These dual missions must be at the center of officer assignments and other personnel decisions.

## Assumptions and Requirements

- Sizing Model is being created that:
- Balances response requirements with agency needs/Corps’ historic mission
- Identifies current capabilities and gaps
- Examines past trends in recruitment, retention and gaps
- Predicts future needs based on trends
- Guides the targeted recruitment efforts

**Notes:**
The Office of Commissioned Corps Force Management (OCCFM) must be able to predict what the force strength and professional capabilities must be given future mission requirements.  To this end, a modeling tool is being created that will enable OCCFM to enter variables for mission complexity, deployability of our officers, etc. and obtain the number of officers from each Category (and specialty, eventually) that will be required to mount an effective and efficient response.
The modeling tool will guide recruitment and “advise” on retention programs in order to meet immediate and future needs of the Corps.  It is “sensitive” to the historic mission of the Corps, the missions of the Agencies to which our officers are assigned and the urgent needs for emergency response.

## Assumptions and Requirements

- Efficiencies must be developed in:
- Recruitment, Call-to-Active-Duty
- All personnel systems
- Support systems must be enhanced
- Officer support
- Family support

**Notes:**
To effectively manage the force, we must be able to efficiently recruit officers with the appropriate skill sets, call them to active duty quickly, promote and assimilate those officers who most closely fit the needs of the service, provide appropriate training to all of our officers and recognize those officers who perform their duties in an exemplary fashion.
New systems must be developed to provide support to officers and their dependents, especially when the officers accept assignments in Isolated/Hardship, Hazardous Duty and Hard-to-Fill positions (known as “3H positions”)

## Recruitment, Selection, Accession, Functional Classification, Assignment and Training of Corps Officers

**Recruitment, Selection, Accession, Functional Classification, Assignment and Training of Corps Officers**

## Recruitment

- Aggressive and targeted
- New, robust call system that links in the Associate Recruiters
- Public relations campaign
- Attractive and informative printed and electronic materials
- New commissioning programs for students
- “Every officer is a recruiter”

**Notes:**
The Sizing Paper, recruitment and retention trends, and our Katrina response have instructed us on required skill sets as well as the gaps that exist between those requirements and our current capabilities.
In response to this information, the Corps has developed new recruitment materials and a new recruitment philosophy that target candidates with the clinical skill sets where deficiencies exist.
New recruitment brochures and Category-specific “Fact Sheets” have been developed for those Categories where deficiencies exist
A new call system has gone online that routes callers to personnel specialists who focus on a particular Category of officer candidates (personalized attention).  This system will soon be available to Associate Recruiters (AR) in the field.  ARs will be able to access information on candidates in their professional Category and geographic or programmatic area to provide a reliable, local link to the candidates.
Advertisements have been placed in professional journals and professional school publications that cater to clinicians; Recruiters will be working at professional conferences.
Officers who are currently on extended active duty have had their “Commissioned Corps Stories” published in hometown and alumni newspapers/newsletters as part of a public relations campaign
A new, dynamic and attractive website has been created that was developed using input from focus groups from our target audience
New student pipeline programs have been proposed that will attract qualified health professionals prior to graduation.  The programs include:
Student Reserve Commission Program: students will be commissioned into the USPHS Inactive Reserve Corps.  There is no obligation on the part of the student or the Corps to serve on active duty upon completion of the degree requirements.  Participants in this program will establish a base pay entry date that corresponds with the date they entered the Program.
Commissioned Officer Student Training and Externship Program: eligibility requires completions of first required year of study in dental, medical, optometry, podiatry, or veterinary school; completion of first two years of technical training; enrollment in a master’s or doctoral program in a commissionable, health-related field; completion of baccalaureate degree and enrollment in certification program.  When active, participants serve as Ensigns (O-1) and receive commensurate pay/benefits.
Early Commissioning Program: students are enrolled in a qualifying degree program, are commissioned on extended active duty, will be obligated to repay the support with 2 days of active duty service for every one day of support.  When on active duty while enrolled in the program, participants serve as Ensigns (O-1) and receive commensurate pay/benefits.

## Application, Selection and Accession

- Electronic application system (eCAD)
- Linked from new Corps website (www.usphs.gov)
- OF-50 completed online
- Additional forms for health status evaluation
- eCAD linked to an electronic selection system that will facilitate linking qualified officers with vacancies (especially in 3H assignments)
- Reduce time from application to accession from >52 weeks to 8-12 weeks

**Notes:**
Identifying the officer skill sets required and targeting recruitment of candidates from the appropriate pools is only part of the battle.  These candidates must be able to apply easily, be selected and brought onboard quickly and trained early in officership and emergency response (two of the defining characteristics of Corps officers).
The application process has been automated.  At present, all candidates may complete the SF-50 and health assessment forms online.  In the very near future, the application will be submitted electronically (the program has been developed (eCAD); however, Department certification and accreditation is not complete).
The electronic application system will query vacancy announcements for potential assignments for officer candidates.  Officer candidate training, professional qualifications and experiences will be compared with the KSAs in announcements to facilitate the initial assignment process.
Combined, the enhancements in the application and accession processes are designed to reduce the time from application to call-to-active-duty from more than 1 year to 2-3 months.

## Application, Selection and Accession

- Streamlined process
- Post-accession physical exam (no cost to the officer)
- Post-accession background investigation
- All new accessions report to the PHS Officer Basic Course (OBC) within their first five weeks on active duty

**Notes:**
Significant delays in the applicant processing were completion of the full physical examination and background investigation prior to the call-to-active-duty.  
Applicants will now provide a report of medical history, pertinent medical records and signed waivers to allow the Corps to contact providers about medical history issues.  They will be encouraged to complete their physical examinations prior to being called to active duty; however, post-accession physical exams will be accepted within the first 30 days of an officer’s career.
Applicants will complete the application for background investigation; however, a favorable adjudication following an Office of Personnel Management investigation will not be required.  Officers who receive an unfavorable adjudication of their background investigation will be handled in accordance with Department policy.
Officers who have completed their physical examinations prior to their CAD will report to the new 2 week PHS Officer Basic Course immediately upon being called to active duty (weeks 1 and 2).  All other officers will report to their duty stations, complete their physical examinations within the first 30 days and then report to the 2 week course (typically weeks 5 and 6 of their careers).

## Functional Classification of Officers

- Functional Groups
- Clinical
- Applied Public Health
- Mental Health
- Research
- Areas of Concentration (AOC)
- Functional Advisory Committees

**Notes:**
In order to ensure that we assign officers with the required skills at the correct duty station at the correct time (i.e., carry out effective force management), it is necessary to designate the functional classification of each position to which officers are assigned.  The Functional Group designation may be changed at the request of the incumbent through a mechanism that is under development.

Four Functional Groups have been created based upon the “function” the incumbent will perform.  The Functional Group will be applied to all billets, is an essential defining characteristic of the officer who will encumber each billet, will be an important factor when assessing deployment readiness of the Corps, sizing the Corps and will eventually be considered during deliberations on promotion and assimilation.
Clinical: provide clinical care
Applied Public Health: epidemiology, program management, food/drug/water safety inspections, etc.
Mental Health: psychological counseling, social work
Research: applied and basic biomedical research
There may often be a need for descriptors of specialty skills within each Functional Group that requires licensure, more tailored education, training and/or career development or are gained through work experience.  These descriptors are designated “Areas of Concentration” and are assigned by the Functional Advisory Committees.
An example of the need for Functional Groups is seen with the Mental Health Functional Group. mental health professionals are found among the Scientist, HSO, Therapist, Medical and Nurse Categories.  To facilitate cross category communication and cooperation, a coordinated system is necessary.  Accordingly, four Functional Advisory Committees (FAC) have been established.
FACs will NOT replace PACs or take away activities/actions that have been delegated to them.  They will be supportive of the PAC structure and facilitate coordination among them
FACs will be comprised of officers from the appropriate Categories (i.e., Mental Health FAC will not include veterinarians, engineers or officers from other non-representative categories)
FAC members will be ex officio members of their PACs (or may be full voting members of the PACs)

## Assignment of Officers

- Officer Profiles
- Professional characteristics of the officer
- Maintained/updated by officer and verified by OCCO
- Used also during career development counseling
- Each officer on a unique billet
- Defines Category and Functional Group
- Searchable by officers, agencies and Career and Assignment Managers (CAM)

**Notes:**
The assignment of officers to billets will be facilitated by an IT system that compares the professional qualifications, licensure, assignment history, grade, etc. of an officer to the same Knowledge, Skills and Abilities included in position announcements.  Qualified officers will be presented to the selecting official for consideration.  The elements of the officer Assignment System include:
Officer Profiles:
A catalog of the officer’s professional qualifications, degrees, licensure, years of service, skill sets, pay grade (rank), assignment history and career track
Maintained and updated by the officer, the information will be verified by OCCO
The same information will be extracted from the SF-50 (application) for officers seeking their initial assignment as a Commissioned officer
Each of the billets encumbered by an officer will be uniquely identified and defined
Each billet will be defined by the Category (Categories) and Functional Group of the incumbent or applicant sought (in the case of a vacant billet) as well as the recommended (or required) tour length
The duties will be clearly defined and described in enough detail to permit objective grading of the billet
All billets will be maintained in a searchable database that can be used by officers and Career Assignment Managers (CAM) to assist with career progression planning and searching for the officer’s next assignment

## Assignment of Officers

- Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA) Library
- Linked to information in officer profiles
- Vacancies
- Track all vacancies
- KSAs included in announcements
- Category, grade and Functional Group preference included in announcement
- Posted on USAJobs website (www.usajobs.gov)
- OCCO CAM compare Officer Profiles with vacancy announcements
- A panel of qualified officers is forwarded to selecting official

**Notes:**
A library of all KSAs has been developed.  Those KSAs are also found in position announcements.  The information in these KSAs will be compared to the Officer Profiles in order to create a panel of qualified officers that will be forwarded to the selecting official for consideration.  The information in the Officer Profiles must comport as closely as possible to the KSA library in order to facilitate the comparison.
All vacancies will be tracked and continuous comparisons of officer profiles with announced KSAs, Category, Grade, Functional Group preference, etc. will be carried out by CAMs.  

## Assignment Incentives

- For Officers:
- Assignment Incentive Pay for work in hard-to-fill billets
- At the discretion of the agency
- Specified tour length and rotation schedule (extensions at officer’s request)
- Receive priority career counseling
- Receive priority placement for follow-on assignments

**Notes:**
There is a pressing need for officers in certain billets.  For instance, there is a deficiency of clinicians in 3H (Isolated/Hardship, Hazardous Duty, Hard-to-Fill) assignments, while hundreds of clinicians work in Atlanta for CDC.  Attracting officers to work in less appealing (or convenient) duty stations may require incentive packages for the officer and his/her dependents.
Officers who voluntarily accept assignments that have been deemed “hard-to-fill” may receive an Assignment Incentive Pay (AIP) at the discretion of the agency.  This pay will be added to the officer’s basic pay each month.
Assignments at 3H sites will have a prescribed tour length.  Those that are most isolated or present the greatest hardship to the officer and/or the officer’s dependents will have a typical tour length of 2 years.  Other 3H assignments will have a prescribed tour length of 3-4 years.  Incumbents may request an extension of their tours.  
Officers in 3H and foreign assignments with prescribed tour lengths will receive priority career counseling from CAMs as they plan their careers beyond the current assignment
Officers in 3H and foreign assignments with prescribed tour lengths will receive early attention from CAMs (at least 1 year from the end of the prescribed tour) to assist with locating a follow-on assignment at a more appealing duty station.  Qualified officers expressing a desire to relocate will be actively referred to OPDIVs and/or non-HHS organizations for consideration.

## Assignment Incentives

- For Dependents:
- Spousal and family member employment assistance program
- Childcare support

-  Counseling, information and referral support
-  Relocation Assistance upon PCS

**Notes:**
Dependent satisfaction with the officer’s duty assignment, particularly in 3H assignments, will make these assignments more attractive to the officer.    The total commitment demanded by the Commissioned Corps requires that officers and their dependent(s) be provided a comprehensive family support system.  There is a proposal to launch a Corps Family Support Program.

The Corps proposes to contract with or enter into an MOU with organizations that specialize in family employment assistance services.  Additionally, the Corps proposes to provide a 50% childcare subsidy (in line with the DoD program) for officers with young dependents.  Our officers in 3H assignments and overseas stations will be granted access to the myriad services offered by the Employee Assistance Program (including counseling services), and integrated Work Life Services.  Finally, assistance, in a variety of services, will be provided to families before and after PCS.  Assistance with locating suitable housing, activating services to the house/apartment, providing information on the local community and providing networking opportunities through a formalized Sponsorship Program in the community to which the officer and dependents will be relocating.

## Training and Career Development

- Career-long training _begins_ at the PHS OBC, but includes Intermediate, Advanced and Executive courses
- Categories and FACs will develop training matrices for career progression within the Categories and in the Functional Groups
- Training will emphasize leadership development applicable to:
- Deployment activities
- Meeting agency missions
- CAM will assist officers with career development

**Notes:**
Career development and advancement, both within the OPDIVs and the Corps, requires ongoing and progressively complex training.  The Corps will develop courses that will foster a sense of community within the Corps and will enhance the leadership, team-building, emergency response and officership.  
As officers progress through their careers in the Corps, progressively higher-level leadership skills will be developed via various training courses offered by the Commissioned Officer Training Academy.  It begins with the 2-week OBC designed to indoctrinate officers into the uniformed services by teaching the basics of service customs and courtesies, operations of our Corps and facilitate meeting basic deployment readiness.  Officers progressing through the mid-grades and into the senior grades will enhance their leadership and response abilities by attending/completing the Intermediate and Advanced courses.  Those officers who advance to the Flag grades will benefit from training received through the Officer Executive Course (under development).  This course will provide executive level leadership skills necessary to function at the SES level and as senior leaders during emergency responses.
Each Category and FAC will develop matrices for use as reference as officers progress in their careers.  These matrices will be helpful tools for both the officers and the CAMs when career counseling sessions are conducted.

## The Backbone of Transformation: Information Technology

**The Backbone of Transformation: Information Technology**

## Slide 24

**Notes:**
The current IT infrastructure supporting Corps personnel and force management is antiquated, and the individual servers do not share data effectively.  Consequently, much of what is proposed cannot be supported by our current IT architecture.  As is shown in this cartoon, the various systems for compensation, COERs, eOPF, processing personnel orders, readiness/response, etc. are not integrated (or, in some cases, not compatible); consequently, data aren’t shared between the systems.

WHEN PRESENTING THIS SLIDE, CLICK TO TRANSITION TO NEXT IMAGE EMBEDDED IN THE SLIDE

What is envisioned is a coordinated/integrated architecture that enables data from various systems to feed into a Data Manager (which retrieves data from databases and inquiries from various systems) to facilitate data sharing.  The entire system is built upon a System Oriented Architecture (SOA) that makes the language of the data systems feeding the Data Manager irrelevant.

A recent development has allowed us to explore using the Coast Guard’s IT systems to manage our data.  The Coast Guard’s HR systems utilize PeopleSoft, and using PeopleSoft was a requirement of the Department’s Chief Information Officers’ Council.  We have received unanimous support of the CIO Council and the Department’s IT Investment Review Board to pursue a formal relationship with the USCG.

## IT Systems

- The Chief Information Officers Council and the Department’s IT Investment Review Board have  approved a plan to form a relationship with the Coast Guard to handle our personnel systems using their IT infrastructure
- eCAD is ready to launch.  The first phase will enable applicants to complete and submit their SF-50 and accompanying documents electronically.

**Notes:**
An analysis of alternatives for development of the IT systems that will support the Transformation was presented to the Department’s CIO Council.  The Corps’ recommendation was to build new functionality upon the systems we currently use, replace those that are outdated and have each of them share information through a System Oriented Architecture (SOA).  While it would have been the most cost-effective approach and would have best met the needs of the Corps, the Council directed the Corps to adapt the Department’s HR systems built upon a Peoplesoft backbone.  

An alternative approach has been proposed by the Corps to the CIO Council.  The Coast Guard manages uniformed personnel using  Peoplesoft-based systems.  Sufficient business practice overlaps between the Corps and Coast Guard to warrant development of a working relationship in which our personnel data would be managed using the Coast Guard’s systems (with “tweaking” that would be necessary to satisfy some of the unique characteristics of our service).

## Implementation Through Policy Development

**Implementation Through Policy Development**

## WPDGs to Date

- Billets, Officer Profiles and Selection Systems
- Career Development and Training
- Recruitment
- “3H” Assignments (Isolated/Hazardous duty, Hardship, Hard-to-fill)
- Family Support
- Sizing of the Corps
- Additionally, the Functional Advisory Committee Leadership has been named

**Notes:**
A critical component of the transformation implementation is the Working Policy Design Group (WPDG).  Each WPDG is comprised of representatives selected by the CPOs and provide their specific Categories perspective on how best to implement the Secretary’s decisions.  Additionally, each WPDG has broad agency representation.  As a consequence of the breadth of the representation, there are over 200 officers serving on the various WPDGs and FACs.  The WPDGs and FACs are listed in this slide.

Each WPDG and the FACs leadership meet regularly (typically weekly) for several hours each meeting to work on designing the policy summaries and strategies for implementing the Secretary’s decisions.  

## Implementation of the Secretary’s plan

- Transformation Implementation Planning Coordination Group (IPCG) has been formed
- 12 officers assigned to OCCO and OCCFM to lead the implementation
- Working Policy and Design Groups (WPDGs)

- Policy summaries drafted by WPDGs, reviewed by IPCG and forwarded to the ASH for decision on approval of policy concept
- Policies written by OCCFM, reviewed by PACs, CPOs, IPCG, then forwarded to ASH for review and decision on approval

**Notes:**
Turning the Secretary’s decisions into policy that truly transforms the Corps requires coordination of effort among the various agencies (HHS and non-HHS) to which officers are assigned, the PACs and various advisory groups.  That coordination must extend beyond the leadership to include guidance from the officers who will be serving in the transformed Corps.  Additionally, given the magnitude of the effort, 10 officers were hired in OCCO and 2 in OCCFM to work on transformation activities full-time.
The Transformation Implementation Planning Coordination Group (IPCG) is comprised of senior officers in each of the agencies to which our officers are assigned and represent the OPDIV/STAFFDIV/non-HHS Agency Head.  The Group meets monthly to guide the policy development and overall implementation.  
Several hundred officers from each of the agencies (with significant representation from the field) have been selected by the PACs to serve on the various Working Policy Design Groups (WPDGs) that are responsible for developing policy summaries using the Transformation Implementation Plan as the skeleton.  Their policy summary statements are reviewed by the Transformation Team (all 12 Transformation Officers, RADMs Knouss, Williams, Furman and Canton, and CDR Eckert) and presented to the IPCG for higher level guidance and feedback from the agencies.
Once the policy summaries have been approved by the IPCG, they are forwarded to the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH) for his review.  He may approve the policy design summary, he may recommend changes to it, or he may disapprove of the design.  If changes are required, then the WPDG will be responsible for making them and returning them for the ASH’s approval.  
Once a policy summary is approved, it is forwarded to OCCFM to format into a policy document (Directives and other issuances).  The draft policy document is reviewed by PACs, CPOs, IPCG, advisory groups and senior leaders in the Corps.  Once finalized, the policy is sent to the ASH for his action (approve, request changes, disapprove).

## Major Accomplishments to Date

**Major Accomplishments to Date**

## Policy Summaries and Draft Policies (approved by the ASH)

- Post-accession medical evaluations
- Required change to the Code of Federal Regulations
- Draft policy

- 3H Assignments
- Definitions
- Assignment Incentive Pay
- 3H Assignments Policy Design

**Notes:**
This policy will permit officers to be called to active duty without completing the physical examination in advance.  The policy will continue to encourage applicants for commission to complete the physical examination prior to their CAD; however, if the officer has not completed the physical, then he/she will be required to do so within 30 days of their CAD or risk involuntary separation from the Service.  

If the post-accession physical examination uncovers a disqualifying condition, then the officer will either be separated from the Service, placed on a limited tour of duty (not to exceed 2 years), or continue on active duty without restrictions.

The physical examination has been viewed as causing significant delays in processing applications.  With the goal of reducing the time from application to CAD to 8-12 weeks, allowing a post-accession physical exam will overcome that obstacle.  

Our Regulations required a pre-accession physical examination.  To implement the policy, it was necessary to change the Regulation.  The language for the change has been drafted and approved by the Office of General Counsel and is scheduled for publication in the Code of Federal Regulations.

## Policy Summaries and Draft Policies (IPCG Action)

- Officer Profiles (Approved by IPCG)
- Billets (Approved by IPCG and Templates for Category-Specific Billets have been created)
- Training-OBC and Competencies (Awaiting Approval of IPCG)
- Model for Corps Sizing (Presented to IPCG)
- Billet Locator and Officer Placement System (Presented to IPCG)

## Policy Summaries and Draft Policies

- Ready for Presentation to the IPCG
- Functional Group System
- 3H Assignments-Family Support
- Recruitment Policy Summary

## New Recruitment Materials

-      New Corps Web Presence	    Matching Fact Sheets and Brochures

**Notes:**
Recruitment brochures and category-specific fact sheets have been developed that provide information about the Corps, our mission, pay and other benefits, degree and licensure requirements, and information on the agencies to which our officers are assigned.  The style and appearance of the brochures and fact sheets match that of our new website.  The new website, www.usphs.gov, provides useful information for the public, potential applicants, active duty officers and retired officers.  Applicants may complete their applications and submit them online (once eCAD gains Certification and Accreditation from the Department...anticipated soon).

## Additional Recruitment Accomplishments

- Advertisements have been placed in dozens of professional journals and newsletters/newspapers from health professions schools
- New booth displays for use at professional conferences
- “My CC Story” feature articles have appeared in hometown and alumni newspapers across the country
- A new Call System and Web Center (under development) facilitate interactions between potential applicants and recruiters.  The Web Center will enable Associate Recruiters to download applicant voicemail messages and contact them