The Defense Health Agency is the nation’s medical Combat Support Agency, providing or augmenting medical capabilities of the Combatant Commands, the military services, federal partners and partners and allies around the world. As one of the Defense Department’s combat support agencies, DHA works to provide combat forces with capabilities they do not possess, or possess in insufficient quantity. In cooperation with the Joint Staff Surgeon and Military Department medical organizations, DHA leads the Department of Defense integrated system of readiness and health through a global health care network of military and civilian medical professionals, including more than 400 military hospitals and clinics around the world, to improve and sustain operational medical force readiness and the medical readiness of the Armed Forces.
Enhancing Military Readiness through Combat Support Capabilities
The DHA provides support for operating forces engaged in planning for, or conducting, military operations, including support during conflict or in the conduct of other military activities related to countering threats to U.S. national security. Among DHA’s most important combat support responsibilities is its work to increase readiness of U.S. forces to carry out their deployed missions.
- The DHA supports the medical readiness of military personnel – ensuring they are healthy and safe from potential health threats through activities such as its global network of hospitals and clinics and civilian health providers, medical surveillance to detect potential health threats.
- The DHA also supports a ready medical force – the physicians, nurses and other health professionals – who support operational forces in the field, through training and education and providing the clinical settings in which they build their skills for deployment.
The DHA fulfills its combat support responsibilities through capabilities including several components that provide crucial expertise and support to the Combatant Commands. Liaison officers within Combatant Commands enable direct contact with DHA, help the DHA better understand Combatant Command needs, and give the Combatant Commands better understanding of DHA capabilities.
The DHA is a critical enabler, working with the Military Departments to advance the health and readiness of U.S. forces and to manage the medical readiness platforms that keep the medical force ready to support operations worldwide. Working in close coordination with the Joint Staff Surgeon, the DHA provides medical-related combat support capabilities that apply across all phases of military operations, including:
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Army Medicine, Defense Health Agency, and TRICARE East region contractor Humana Military representatives welcomed local TRICARE network health care providers to the Sabalauski Air Assault School on Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on April 13.
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4/27/2023
For the first time, medical representatives from the Defense Health Agency participated in a combatant command movement exercise, the Ultimate Caduceus 2023 held in March. The objective was to test the Department of Defense’s aeromedical evacuation and critical care transport capabilities.
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The 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron embarks on the U.S. Air Force’s first-ever AE paramedic-led flight in charge of an all-enlisted medical crew.
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4/7/2023
The Drill Sergeant Timothy Kay Soldier Performance Readiness Center, “represents a seismic shift” towards how the U.S. Army approaches how troops are trained, evaluated, and sustained, said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Jason E. Kelly, Fort Jackson’s commander. “It is an investment in individual soldier preparedness.”
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U.S. Army Col. Kent Solheim, 165th Infantry Brigade commander, pauses for a moment while climbing a rope during the “Kay Workout of the Day” on March 24 at the Drill Sergeant Timothy Kay Soldier Performance Readiness Center. The workout was part of the facility's grand opening. (Photo by Robert Timmons, Fort Jackson Public Affairs Office)
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This issue of the peer-reviewed monthly journal published by the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division (AFHSD) features the articles: Changing of the Guard: MSMR’s Second Editor-in-Chief Retires; Brief Report: Hospitalizations Among Active Duty Members of the U.S. Coast Guard, Fiscal Year 2021; Historical Perspective: The Critical Role of Disease and Non-Battle Injuries in Soldiers Isolated on Pacific Islands During the Second World War; From the Editor’s Desk.
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U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman Dante Horner, a corpsman with 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division, performs tactical combat casualty care during Spanish FLOTEX-22 near Rota, Spain, June 9, 2022. This exercise features tactical level actions ashore, combined with joint training and planning, aimed at increasing overall bilateral interoperability between nations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Megan Ozaki)
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American soldiers from the 1st Area Medical Laboratory were hosted by their counterparts at the Australian Defence Force Malaria and Infectious Disease Institute in Brisbane, Australia. Find out what was discussed at this meeting to strengthen critical relationships, save lives, and enable both sides' mission readiness.
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Last Updated: May 12, 2023