{"id":77778,"date":"2025-03-11T22:06:30","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T22:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/03\/11\/military-medical-system-unprepared-for-future-conflict-experts-say\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:19:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:19:05","slug":"military-medical-system-unprepared-for-future-conflict-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/03\/11\/military-medical-system-unprepared-for-future-conflict-experts-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Military medical system unprepared for future conflict, experts say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When it comes to the subject of combat casualty care, \u201cwithout urgent intervention, the Military Health System<\/a> will continue to slide into medical obsolescence,\u201d a retired Air Force trauma surgeon told senators on March 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consequence of a military medical system that remains unprepared to handle a high volume of casualties in any future major conflict is that \u201cmany will have survivable injuries, yet one in four will die at the hands of an unprepared system,\u201d said Dr. Jeremy W. Cannon, a professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Perelman School of Medicine and a surgeon in the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only about 10 percent of military general surgeons experience the patient volume, level of acute cases and variety of cases needed to remain designated as combat ready. According to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the percentage of military general surgeons meeting the necessary readiness standards dropped from 17 percent in 2015 to 10 percent in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re actively falling into the trap of the peacetime effect,\u201d Cannon, a retired Air Force colonel, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That 10 percent is caused by \u201cgrossly inadequate patient volume,\u201d Cannon said. \u201cThey\u2019re not doing the cases, not doing the procedures. They\u2019re not doing what they were trained to do. That\u2019s because they don\u2019t have the patients in the facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He and two other military retirees who rose to high-ranking positions in the military medical establishment testified on March 11 about various initiatives the community should be taking to prepare the military\u2019s surge capacity, including the need to invest in Level 1 trauma centers for military medical facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve de-scoped our facilities to the point where they take care of low-acuity community hospital patients, not trauma patients,\u201d said retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Paul A. Friedrichs, the former Joint Staff Surgeon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need our key hospitals to be Level 1 trauma centers in partnership with the American College of Surgeons in the communities where they\u2019re located.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do so, there must be an adequate funding supply, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no way to fix the problems without the funding to meet these unique challenges, the witnesses said. It\u2019s a mistake to think military medical care could be provided at a lower cost than in the civilian sector and still be adequately prepared for conflict, Friedrichs added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costs of medical care nationwide, meanwhile, have risen about 5.1 percent per year, on average, since 1938, Friedrichs said. But since 2015, the budget for military hospitals has decreased by nearly 12 percent, according to Wicker, the committee chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The military medical system has been working to attract patients back to the military treatment facilities<\/a> after forcing many military beneficiaries to seek outside care in the private sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\t