Developing Military Health Care Leaders: Insights from the Military, Civilian, and Government Sectors

Over the past few years, military leaders have realized that the Military Health System (MHS) has to transform itself and the way it does business. This need has been driven by the rapid escalation in the costs of health care, a changing environment with an increased emphasis on performance management, the unprecedented challenges facing the U.S. military at home and abroad that require it to assume new roles and responsibilities, and the need to transform the medical force so that future medical support is fully aligned with joint force concepts. As part of a larger project providing assistance to the MHS in establishing a joint medical education and training campus at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, RAND was asked to examine the ways in which leaders in the health care field are prepared and supported in the civilian and military sectors, to review the competencies necessary to be a leader in the current environment, and to recommend improvements to the ways in which potential leaders are identified and developed for leadership positions in the MHS.