Highlights of BUMED Specialty Leader Business Meeting

Joel Schofer's Career Planning Podcast

I was recently selected to be the Emergency Medicine Specialty Leader, and earlier this week I attended the BUMED Business Meeting for Specialty Leaders and Program Directors. Below are the highlights I thought were of interest to a general Medical Corps audience:

1. BUPERS is removing the AZ (above zone) and IZ (in zone) stamps on the Officer Summary Records (OSR) for all promotion boards starting with the upcoming FY17 promotion boards. Some feel that when officers are labelled “AZ” that board members assume that something must be wrong with them since they failed to select previously. This is being done to reduce the chance of that bias (if it even really exists). Obviously if you have been passed over for promotion and you have a ton of FITREPs at your current rank or the board members closely scrutinize your date of rank on the OSR, they will be able to figure out pretty easily that you are AZ, but without the stamp it will make it harder for them to do so.
2. There is a POSSIBILITY that they change the promotions in the future so that the top 10% of officers selected for promotion get to put the new rank on first. Currently the order your promote is based on your lineal number and seniority. In other words, the officers who have been passed over most get to put the new rank on first. They MAY switch to a system where merit determines who promotes sooner rather than seniority.
3. DMHRSi is something that very few Medical Corps officers like, but you should realize that the data you put into it is clearly used by BUMED to make decisions that impact manning and measure your productivity. You should do what you can to correctly reflect your workload in DMHRSi.
4. The rollout of the new electronic medical record is slated to begin in the Pacific northwest in 2016, but it MIGHT be pushed to the right into 2017. The total rollout is scheduled over a 5 year period.
5. The career intermission program is being expanded. You can use it to take up to 3 years off, essentially hitting the pause button on your career. You retain 1/15th of your basic pay and your benefits, like TRICARE, and will owe a 2 for 1 time to the Navy upon your return. For example, if you take 2 years off, you’ll owe 4 years when you return to active duty. When you return, your lineal number and promotion cycle is reset so that you don’t lose any time and you jump back into a year group that you can compete with for promotion. There is info on the program here, OPNAV 1330.2B – Navy Career Intermission Program Guidelines or at this website.
6. The conference approval process is arduous and painful, but it MIGHT be getting easier. For now it will remain the same and require multiple forms. If you are going to something that is a “course” and not a “conference” then your Specialty Leader can see if BUMED legal will exempt the course from the approval process. The POC in that office says that courses have been exempted successfully, and once they are exempted then all officers can use that exemption if their command is willing to pay for the course. Here is the conference approval webpage. You should always check here for the latest information.

https://mccareer.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/episode-22-bumed-business-meeting.mp3