WASHINGTON — While military treatment facilities, like Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, were created to train medical officers for deployment, the treatment of military members and their families is also a priority for the facilities, according to top military health officers.
Testifying before the House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel, officers from the Air Force, Navy, Army and Defense Health Agency discussed the role of military treatment facilities as Congress prepares to evaluate major defense health reforms.
Susan Hosek, who studies military health at the RAND Corporation, said in an interview that though the military health system arose to prepare medical officers for the battlefield, peace-time allowed for a benefits system to grow up around military treatment facilities. As Congress begins to look to reforms, they will have to decide what role these facilities should be playing, she said.
