Staffing shortages continue to plague the U.S. military’s flagship hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, leading to the disruption of services this month in the nephrology infusion clinic at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
A Walter Reed spokeswoman said Thursday that two nurses at the clinic, which provides infusion services for kidney, some gastroenterology and other department patients, went on emergency leave, forcing hospital leaders to shift staff from other areas of the hospital to support clinic operations.
Ricardo Reyes, a public affairs officer at Walter Reed, said no appointments were canceled and “all patients scheduled for this week have been rescheduled.”
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A patient said that late last week they were notified by staff that the clinic would be closed for two weeks and told to make alternate arrangements.
The patient said they were shifted to Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, which also has a limited number of staff to support infusions and is a 90-minute drive during most times of the day from Walter Reed.
“We are working to make sure next week’s scheduled patients are covered,” Reyes said in an email to Military.com on Wednesday. “This is a temporary situation, and we expect to be back to normal operations later this month.”
An April 2024 Defense Department report to Congress said that the facility was staffed at just 79% of its authorized number of personnel, with nurses having the lowest staffing rate at 68%.
To address the issue, the Defense Health Agency launched an effort with the medical commands of the military services to develop a Human Capital Distribution Plan, or HCDP, to determine the requirements at all medical and dental facilities to ensure that the facilities were adequately supported by military personnel as well as civilian and contract staff.
In its report to Congress on Walter Reed, Defense Health Agency officials said the HCDP would give the facility the means to fill its empty jobs.
“The HCDP … will provide Military Health System leaders a way, and the means, to provide military and civil service authorizations filled by the right person, at the time they are needed, achieving great outcomes for our beneficiaries,” the report stated.
The Defense Department awarded contracts worth up to $43 billion in May 2024 to 11 health care staffing companies to provide contract medical staff as well as support at military treatment facilities and other federal hospitals and clinics in the 50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.
According to the Defense Health Agency, under the agreements, known as the Medical Q-Coded Support and Services Next Generation contracts, the companies are to provide dental, nursing, physician and medical support staff to augment DoD civilian employees and military personnel at those hospitals and clinics.
Last year, Karen Ruedisueli, director of government relations for health affairs at the Military Officers Association of America, noted that staffing shortfalls at Walter Reed “could reverberate” across the military health system because not only is it considered a premier medical center, it is responsible for training the next generation of military doctors, with 53 graduate medical programs for the Army, Navy and Air Force.
“MOAA supports the DoD’s revised strategy to stabilize the military health system and improve MTF [military treatment facilities] staffing so MHS [the military health system] can fulfill both readiness and beneficiary care missions,” Ruedisueli wrote.
In an opinion piece published earlier this month, acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Stephen Ferrara pledged to work with department leadership to ensure that the military health system has what it needs to serve patients and train physicians.
“Military medicine is a no-fail mission. I’m confident that our success will continue to reinforce the strength that sustains the peace. But should the peace be broken … our preparation will ensure we break the Walker Dip streak,” Ferrara wrote, referring to the decline in combat medical skills following the end of a period of war.
Walter Reed is undergoing a multiyear renovation and expansion project, with a new five-story, 533,000-square-foot facility that opened this spring to house operating rooms and ambulatory procedure rooms, women’s health, the Mother Infant Care Center and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, dentistry, and dozens of other clinics and services.
A new building, slated to open in 2028, will house optometry, patient transport, the American Red Cross and administrative offices, according to facility officials.
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