Transformation of the Fleet Hospital Program from a Platform-Based Hospital to a Modular, Capability-Based Hospital

The United States has entered a new security environment, causing its military to conduct operations in remote areas of the world with limited resources to support its troops. The Fleet Hospital Program is responsible for providing health service support ashore, mainly medical and surgical capabilities to Navy and Marine Corps personnel during intense combat operations. The requirement for forces to be lighter, more maneuverable, and more readily deployed and employed in the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review has created the need for change in this program. This study answers the question: Should the Navy Fleet Hospital Program transform from a platform-based hospital to a modular, capabilities-based hospital? It utilizes five future mission scenarios for deployable medical systems to evaluate the applicability of a capabilities-based fleet hospital to perform those missions. The study leads to the conclusion that in order to remain a relevant deployable medical asset, the current fleet hospitals require reconfiguration to capabilities-based hospitals to meet the operational needs of the war fighter. The current fleet hospitals are simply too large and cumbersome to provide a flexible, modular, and maneuverable medical facility necessary to operate in today's security environment.