U.S. Navy mission and organization

Sea Power, Jan 2003

Navy Medicine The 34th surgeon general of the Navy Medical Corps, Vice Adm. Michael L. Cowan, leads a team focused on providing high-quality health care and customer service to more than 550,000 active-duty Navy and Marine Corps personnel and an additional 2.6 million retired and family members-at a little more than half the national per-capita average cost for medical care. Navy health-care professionals also provide medical support during contingency, humanitarian, and joint operations around the world-- most recently during the Operation Enduring Freedom missions in Afghanistan.

Navy medicine is focused on the following key goals: (1) service to the fleet-managing the health of Sailors and Marines and delivering effective casualty support to sustain high levels of readiness; (2) managing health, not illness-shifting from a mindset of providing care in response to a medical problem to one of focusing on the whole patient's wellness and managed health care; (3) effective implementation of the TRICARE program; (4) embracing best-business practices; and (5) enhancing data integrity to measure accomplishments and successes.

The central concept of providing health-care programs that protect U.S. fighting forces is called Force Health Protection (FHP). It is a focused and integrated approach to protect and sustain the service's most important resource-its service members. It is designed to improve existing health, proactively address medical concerns, and provide care for any illness or injury that does occur. FHP changes the focus of military medicine from one of casualty care alone to an emphasis on fitness and monitoring forces engaged in military operations. It thrusts preventive medicine to the forefront of ensuring readiness for deployment. It captures the culture shift that is taking place throughout Navy medicine-a shift from episodic responsive care to a fit, healthy lifestyle that results in a ready, capable individual.

Medical care at U.S. Navy facilities continues to improve. In recent years, average objective accreditation scores for Navy hospitals were in the 90th percentile-significantly exceeding the average scores for civilian hospitals. Navy medicine continues to find innovative ways to provide convenient and cost-effective medical and dental care to service members. Pierside clinics, deployments of health-care practitioners with the operating forces, and new programs at recruit training activities all save valuable time and help to keep U.S. Sailors and Marines in good health.

Navy medicine is applying new technology to deliver specialty consultation in remote areas and to improve the ability to provide quality health care to forward-deployed operating forces and at remote medical-treatment facilities. Navy medicine continues to search for new research breakthroughs, such as the scientific discoveries in DNA vaccines for malaria, that will result in healthier lives.

The Systems Commands The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), commanded by Vice Adm. Phillip M. Balisle, is the Navy's central activity for designing, engineering, integrating, building, and procuring U.S. naval ships, shipboard weapons, and combat systems. Its expertise in these areas historically stems from the Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repair and the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography, created in 1842, and the Bureau of Ships, which was established in 1940. NAVSEA's responsibilities also include the maintenance, repair, modernization, and conversion of in-service ships and their weapons and combat systems. Additionally, it provides technical, industrial, and logistics support for naval ships and ensures the proper design and development of the total ship, including contractor-furnished shipboard systems.