Skip policy: road to Force Health Protection 2010

The 2010 Force Health Protection Capstone concept envisions a single level of theater hospitalization and a greater reliance on the strategic movement of casualties from the theater. A significant Force Health Protection implication is 100% of the combat zone patients leaving theater will not have a second stay at an echelon/level IV hospital. In 2000, the Army began moving toward the Force Health Protection concept by using a skip policy for determining 2007 medical force structure requirements. Implementing the skip policy avoids (eliminates) the second echelon/level IV hospital length of stay for a percentage of combat zone patients leaving theater. The Army's decision to implement a skip policy exposed the complexities associated with determining deployable medical force structure requirements and the inherent inter-relatedness of the services medical mission.