16 FAM 800
OPERATIONAL MEDICINE PROGRAM
16 FAM 810
general
(CT:MED-51; 10-01-2024)
(Office of Origin: MED)
16 FAM 811 background
(CT:MED-32; 01-10-2017)
16 FAM 811.1 Directorate of Operational Medicine (MED/DMD/OM)
(CT:MED-41; 03-07-2019)
(Uniform/State/USAID/USAGM/Commerce/Foreign Service Corps-USDA)
(Applies to Civil Service and Foreign Service Employees)
a. The Bureau of Medical Services’ (MED) Directorate of Operational Medicine (MED/DMD/OM), executes the U.S. Department of State’s Operational Medicine Program. The essential functions of the program are planning, developing, resourcing, and executing medical contingency plans to enhance the security of chief-of-mission personnel engaged in high-risk environments worldwide, providing senior decision-makers with flexible response options to identify and mitigate emerging medical risks and employing professionals trained, experienced, and equipped to operate in high-risk environments.
b. Activities of the Directorate of Operational Medicine complement the Department’s health care program abroad by supporting mission medical health unit staff and assisting missions in emergency medical preparedness programs in all environments.
16 FAM 811.2 Authority
(CT:MED-41; 03-07-2019)
(Uniform/State/USAID/USAGM/Commerce/Foreign Service Corps-USDA)
(Applies to Civil Service and Foreign Service Employees)
The authorities for the Operational Medicine Program are detailed in 16 FAM 111.
16 FAM 812 PERSONNEL
(CT:MED-41; 03-07-2019)
(Uniform/State/USAID/USAGM/Commerce/Foreign Service Corps-USDA)
(Applies to Civil Service and Foreign Service Employees)
a. The Managing Director of Operational Medicine directly supervises the Director of the Office of Strategic Medical Preparedness and the Director of the Office of Protective Medicine, and retains responsibility for the management, direction, and development of functions administered by those offices. The Managing Director must be an experienced physician board-certified in emergency medicine.
b. The Office of Protective Medicine is responsible for the development and execution of medical support to security, protective, and crisis-response operations. The Director of the Office of Protective Medicine must be a practitioner experienced in managing emergency medical-services systems and providing or directing medical support to law-enforcement or military operations.
c. The Office of Strategic Medical Preparedness is responsible for developing strategic medical contingency plans, managing the Department’s strategic stockpiles of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, and developing and executing mass-casualty training programs for high-threat posts. The Director of the Office of Strategic Medical Preparedness must be an experienced Foreign Service physician.
d. The emergency management specialist is a Civil Service employee with extensive crisis-management and contingency planning experience that holds medical licensure or certification as an advanced medical practitioner responsible for planning, resourcing, and executing direct medical support to security, protection, and crisis-response operations. While deployed abroad, emergency management specialists may be armed in accordance with the mission firearms policy.
e. The medical specialist (protective) is a Foreign Service specialist with extensive crisis-management and contingency planning experience that holds medical licensure or certification as an advanced medical provider and is posted to selected high-threat posts abroad, where they are supervised by the regional security officer, work collaboratively with the health unit staff, and support security and protection operations. While posted abroad, the medical specialist (protective) may be armed in accordance with the mission firearms policy.
f. The protective medical officer is a Civil Service physician with extensive experience in emergency or operational medicine that provides direct medical support to security, protection, and crisis-response operations. While deployed abroad, the protective medical officer may be armed in accordance with the mission firearms policy.
g. The interagency planner is a Civil Service professional or Department of Defense service member with extensive experience in coordinating medica-support plans at the inter-agency and international level, responsible for synchronizing and mobilizing resources to support security, protection, and crisis-response operations abroad.
h. The Operational Medicine Program manager is a Civil Service employee responsible for acquisitions planning, contract management, strategic program analysis, business process development, and resource programming within the Directorate of Operational Medicine. The program manager must hold Federal Acquisitions Certification in Program and Project Management, and be a level III contracting officer’s representative.
16 FAM 813 Operational medicine program FUNCTIONS
(CT:MED-51; 10-01-2024)
(Uniform/State/USAID/USAGM/Commerce/Foreign Service Corps-USDA)
(Applies to Civil Service and Foreign Service Employees)
a. The Operational Medicine directorate formulates and directs the implementation of MED policies that provide medical support to chief-of-mission personnel in high-threat environments. The directorate plans, resources, and executes health-support activities in such environments outside normal mission health unit activities. See 1 FAM 362.1 for functional statements defining areas of responsibilities for the component offices of the Operational Medicine directorate.
b. Specific functions include:
(1) Provision of executive oversight, leadership, and central activities necessary to sustain operational medicine capabilities and services provided by the bureau in support of Department activities;
(2) Support to the Medical Director as primary liaison to the intelligence community in assimilating medical intelligence to inform and guide the Department’s medical response to natural disasters, epidemics, and terrorist acts against the U.S. Government abroad;
(3) Oversight and coordination of medical privileging of emergency medical technician personnel outside the Bureau of Medical Services, in collaboration with MED/DMD/QM, under the provisions of 16 FAM 135;
(4) Rapid deployment of protective medicine personnel to support security, protection, and crisis-response operations in high-risk areas and subject-matter experts in support of the foreign emergency support team (FEST); and
(5) Development and implementation of preparedness measures to mitigate medical risk to covered personnel from natural and manmade hazards through:
(a) Developing broad-based interagency and intradepartmental partnerships, frameworks, and contingency plans to address general and specific medical threats:
(b) Assessing and refining the Department’s strategic medical readiness posture; and
(c) Ensuring standardization of emergency medical training for personnel at high-threat diplomatic facilities abroad, including deployment of mobile training teams;
(6) Management and control of nontraditional patient movement through specialized air assets capable of biocontainment medical evacuation and medical transport, and facilitating movement of crisis-response personnel into high-risk areas as directed by Department leadership;
(7) Provides a single coordination point between external stakeholders and bureau directorates, including MED/MHS, MED/DMD, and MED/CP, for support to personnel recovery activities; and
(8) Performs acquisitions planning and contract-management functions related to emergency medical kits, WMD pharmaceutical countermeasures, security and crisis-response support, nontraditional medical evacuation services, and other supplies and services within the operational medicine mission.
16 fam 814 through 819 unassigned