rutstein retirement sends shock waves throughout the commissioned

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR continued...
The points made by Dr. Koh are contained
in the “Executive Summary”
slides made available to all Corps
officers on the CCMIS website and
announced in an email to the Corps
just as our telephone call was ending
at 4:35PM on the 12th. For those unable
to access the password protected
CCMIS webpage, we have posted the
briefing notes on the COA website.
Dr. Koh reported on the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) tasking
for a management review, the process
and players he directed to conduct
that review, and the “findings” and 46
recommendations developed by the review.
The findings concluded by the review
validate COA’s concerns expressed
to Dr. Koh during that first meeting
with him in March, 2009. The management
review found a decentralized
and complex organizational structure;
operations spread across three different
chains of command (actually more if
you include the opdivs and agencies);
fragmented and inconsistent enforcement
of policies; “suboptimal” customer
satisfaction; and more.
Dr. Koh told me that he was taking immediate
steps to address the key items.
Among these first steps are streamlining
the Corps’ administrative structure
from 20 to 10 offices; unifying policy
and operations under a single point
of accountability (realigning OCCFM
back under OSG); and establishing an
advisory board to assist the ASH in
Corps oversight. Anticipated outcomes
include cost savings, more effective and
efficient management for the Corps, and
increased customer satisfaction. That’s
all good news.
The other news was that while these
significant changes were to begin immediately,
they are not expected to be complete
until the spring of next year. That
said, the recommended changes are complex
and will take time to implement.
VADM Benjamin echoed Dr. Koh’s
comments and voiced her “complete
agreement” with him.
I began my comments by thanking
Dr. Koh and VADM Benjamin for the
courtesy extended to COA by the call.
I remarked that COA would certainly
agree with the major issues identified as
things stood on March 23rd – the day
the PPACA became law; but on that day
there would have been only three issues.
Subsequent actions to impose a “pause”
on calls-to-duty have, in COA’s view,
propelled that issue to the top of the
list. I asked about the relationship of
the “pause” to the management review;
the reasons for the “pause”, and the
steps necessary to have it lifted.
Dr. Koh assured me that everyone in
DHHS, from the top down, is working
as hard as possible on getting the
“pause” lifted and has been from the
beginning. But my questions went
mostly unanswered – topics for a future
meeting. There was a suggestion that
since the PPACA required all new accessions
to be commissioned as Regular
Corps officers – effective immediately
upon the bill becoming law on March
23rd – and that the required processes
(DHHS submission of names to the
White House for formal nomination
to and confirmation by the Senate on
a regular and recurring basis) did not
exist, that this might somehow have
caused the “pause.”
I pointed out that the language in the
PPACA regarding the Corps was unchanged
in the almost year long process
of congressional committee hearings.
That language was publicly available
and, in fact, was provided by me personally
to DHHS on at least two occasions
last year with a request to review and
advise of any problems with implementation.
No obstacles to implementation
were identified. There may be inherent
challenges in formulating plans and
policies without legislation actually in
place; but it is difficult to understand
why such procedures are not in place
almost seven months after the fact.
My next question was related to the
“pause” issue and had to do with reports
from among the 450+ officers who
have been commissioned since March
23rd, but whose commissions required
special presidential authority. Many of
these new officers have asked COA to
look into their eligibility for promotions
in the next cycle. Apparently, some
officers have been told that because of
their special status they will not be able
to qualify for promotions for which
they would otherwise be eligible. The
Surgeon General promised to inquire
into the situation and get back to me.
COA supports the planned reorganization
aimed at streamlining Corps
management and focusing the chainof-command
and accountability. But I
cautioned against over-enthusiastic and
optimistic expectations of savings and
improved efficiencies. The focus must be
on improved effectiveness and efficiency
first and on cost savings second.
I asked Dr. Koh to provide more detail
on the planned Commissioned Corps
Advisory Board that will report to him.
I was concerned that the idea was to
simply replace the functions performed
by OCCFM in the ASH’s office with yet
another bureaucratic layer. He assured
me that this is not the case; that the
Advisory Board will be a senior executive
group composed of many of the
same officials convened to conduct the
management review and may also include
opdiv heads. The Advisory Board
will function in just that capacity –
providing advice to the ASH about the
Corps – and not as yet another bureaucratic
layer in the approval process.
Dr. Koh concluded the call by once
again stating his commitment to open
communication with COA, encouraging
me to call him directly whenever I
had a question and that any requested
meetings would be a priority for him. I
remain impressed with, and convinced
by Dr. Koh’s concern for and loyalty to
the Corps. His dedication to improving
transparency and communication
as the Department moves forward to
resolve Corps issues is exactly what is
needed to reassure all officers of the
Department’s strong support for their –
and the Corps’ future. A future in which
we all want to see an expanded, more
effective, more efficient, more capable
and more professional Corps as provided
for in the PPACA.
The timeline for all this does, however,
leave much to be desired – a situation
with which I expect the ASH would
agree and which I am sure frustrates
him as much as all of us. The longer the
14 commissioned officers association