JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. –
The Air Force is rolling out a new medical model to increase the overall readiness of our military by streamlining the return of Airmen to duty.
The 633rd Medical Group is one of 60 Air Force medical treatment facilities within the continental United States participating in the restructure.
“Because the Secretary of the Air Force mandated Military Health Systems transition under the Defense Health Agency, we have seen several changes,” says U.S. Air Force Colonel Christian Smith, 633rd Medical Operations Squadron commander. “One of those is streamlining of healthcare management, and a new organization of our 633rd MDG squadrons was mandated.”
The goal of reforming the medical group organizational structure is to enhance the Air Force’s ability to proactively manage active-duty medical care, thus improving personnel availability, rapidly restoring readiness, deployability and the lethality of all squadrons.
“This new unit will be the Operational Medical Readiness Squadron and will focus on active duty care, sustain JBLE operations and ensure the medical readiness of our folks in uniform,” said Smith. “The remaining part of MDOS will be the Healthcare Operations Squadron with a focus on caring for our family members and retirees. Our expectation is this will ultimately lead to better health for all.”
Active duty personnel can expect to see an increased focus on preventative care, with efforts to consolidate various requirements into a single appointment.
“We’re the gateway to medical readiness,” said U.S. Air Force Colonel Soo Sohn, 633rd Operational Medical Readiness Squadron commander. “The important thing is we’re not decreasing availability to anyone, we’re expanding and refocusing our care. The care process will be more streamlined.”
Under the new Air Force Medical Reform model, dedicated provider care teams will be aligned to an Operational Medical Readiness Squadron, primarily focused on proactively treating active-duty service members and improving their availability to support the warfighting mission.
Care for non-active duty patients, primarily the families of service members and military retirees, will be handled by separate provider teams aligned to the Health Care Operations Squadron.
Smith stated that retirees and dependents will continue receiving care from providers they already know at the level they’re accustomed to. Additionally, the restructure will not diminish services or change the number of technicians, nurses or providers at the hospital.
“We really expect our patients to see no change in their experience coming to the medical group,” Smith said.
Provider changes made by the 633rd MDG in January 2019, in the transition to the Operational Medicine Clinic, are not impacted by the restructure.
“What makes us different from the civilian healthcare is that readiness is our mission,” Sohn said. “We already had that prioritized in a way with the operational medicine clinic, but this reform allows us to go further.”
Active duty members are assigned to the OMC by their unit identification codes. However, no units will be eliminated by these changes. Two squadrons will change their names to align with the new model, and some flights will shift from one squadron to another. The Aerospace Medical Squadron will become the Operational Medical Readiness Squadron, and the Medical Operation Squadron is now the Health Care Operations Squadron.
To watch the re-designation ceremony, please visit .
For any questions concerning care, contact the Langley Hospital at 757-225-7630.