Health Professionals Special Pays Study: Report to Congress on Armed Forces Health Professionals Special Pays -- Other Health Care Providers; Congressional rept

摘要

This supplement to the Report to Congress on Health Professional Special Pays, issued December 1, 1988, reviews accession, retention, and relative compensation status of 13 health care specialties within the military health care system: dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, pharmacy, clinical psychology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, audiology, speech pathology, podiatry, social work, dietetics, and physician assistant. One clear finding of this review of health care providers is that the inventory of 'other' health care providers in the military is declining, both in absolute terms, and as compared to authorizations. The FY83 inventory of all 13 disciplines studied was 9949, against 9856 authorizations. By FY88, authorizations were 9730, while inventory had declined to 9374 individuals assigned, a drop of 575, or 6% in 5 years. Some disciplines sustained significant losses, such as Army Optometry, which lost 40% of its force in those years, while others were able to maintain their size fairly well. Various factors have contributed to the relative health of each professional discipline, but substantially it is the outside environment driving up prices and cutting into the supply that has proved most troublesome. An additional difficulty results from the small personnel numbers of most of the 'other' health care disciplines. Small communities can develop management problems when managed within the overall environment of Corps, Military Department, and Defense Officer Personnel Management Act (DOPMA) standards. Complications, such as awarding constructive credit for experience and education may then play havoc with promotion opportunities in small communities constrained by various grade controls, making it particularly difficult to put forth an encouraging career plan for potential recruits.