Medical Stability Operations-One Approach to Transforming the Department of Defense Military Health System

Abstract

The Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 6000.16 entitled Military Health Support for Stability Operations was published in 2010 and established policy thatMedical Stability Operations (MSOs) would be a core military mission. The instruction set out to institutionalize how the Military Health Support (MHS) would effectively support MSOs and assist in bridging the gap with other actors operating in the same space. What is less clear is the current status of the MHS in accomplishing the responsibilities outlined in the DoDI. Even more concerning is how these efforts will support the "new" strategic guidance for the DoD published in January 2012 that states U.S. forces will no longer be sized to conduct large-scale, prolonged stability operations. In the absence of a publicly available DoDI 6000.16 implementation strategy, this article proposes the use of an organizational transformation process developed by internationally acclaimed leadership and organizational change expert Dr. John Kotter. The eight-step process is used as a framework to explore ways to effectively transform the DoD in meeting the intent of the MSOs DoDI. The past decade has transformed how service members think about MSOs. Now is the time to transform the MHS with urgency to institutionalize these thoughts. © Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S. All rights reserved.