What are your best recommendations to begin a career in Military Health Care on the Reserve side of any service branch?

2016-04-12T10:36:05-04:00

Response by SSG Ed Mikus made Apr 12 at 2016 10:40 AM

2016-04-12T10:40:22-04:00

Navy seems to have the best

Response by 1stSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 12 at 2016 10:40 AM

2016-04-12T10:40:28-04:00

Skipper, are you talking officer or enlisted?

Response by SSG Derrick L. Lewis MBA, C-HRM made Apr 12 at 2016 10:40 AM

2016-04-12T10:40:32-04:00

CPT Jason Mitchell, MBA ,
This may be able to provide some insight, or at least get you pointed in the right direction. Best of luck moving forward.
http://www.goarmy.com/reserve/jobs/browse/medical-and-emergency/medical-corps-officer.html

Medical Corps Officer (62)

As a leading Army physician, a Medical Corps Officer commands medical units in all situations and ensures that Soldiers are in good health. Learn more at goarmy.com.

Response by CPT Jason Mitchell, MBA made Apr 12 at 2016 10:43 AM

2016-04-12T10:43:49-04:00

My ambition is to begin a career as a reservist with a specialty in Healthcare Administration, but I've run into a few roadblocks when attempting to join on the Navy and Army side. It seems that experience is the deciding factor due to this being a competitive career avenue in both branches. I am currently working to finish and earn my MBA degree, but need to know if I should also attempt to certify or earn a degree in a healthcare admin specialty program too.
I'm also interested in the Coast Guard Reserve and Air Force Reserve medical specialties, but know very little so far about their qualifications and openings. My intent is to do my homework and then re-engage with the recruiters and network with current military Healthcare personnel in the know who have experience with this specialty. Thank you in advance for your assistance and input.

Response by LTC Paul Labrador made Apr 12 at 2016 12:48 PM

2016-04-12T12:48:48-04:00

First question is, what are you wanting to do? Military Health Care is a diverse field with many disciplines represented.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 12 at 2016 11:07 PM

2016-04-12T23:07:36-04:00

Just trying to understand....are you currently active duty? Or are you a civilian trying to come back in? Have you talked to a healthcare recruiter?

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 12 at 2016 11:13 PM

2016-04-12T23:13:03-04:00

http://m.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/amedd-categories/medical-service-corps-jobs/heath-care-administrative-assistant.m.html

Health Services Administration (70B) | GoArmy.com

The Health Care Administrative Assistant monitors the treatment of patients, ensuring the Army’s health care facilities run efficiently. Learn more at goarmy.com.

Response by CPT Jason Mitchell, MBA made Apr 13 at 2016 10:50 AM

2016-04-13T10:50:13-04:00

Anyone from the Air Force side or Coast Guard side care to chime in? I'd really appreciate hearing from all services to help paint a better picture of your experiences and the branch requirements. Thanks!

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 13 at 2016 3:22 PM

2016-04-13T15:22:00-04:00

Jason, I would highly recommend reaching out to a Navy Officer recruiter that SPECIALIZES in health care. I capitalized specialized because that recruiter will know exactly what your best option would be. I might be able to point you in right direction.

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 14 at 2016 4:18 AM

2016-04-14T04:18:04-04:00

If it were me, I would start working on my degree as soon as possible and once I had my pre reqs done and was at a point to where I could finish my degree to become an Officer under the mecep program, I would go Officer.

Response by CPO Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 17 at 2016 10:52 AM

2016-04-17T10:52:38-04:00

From the Coast Guard Reserve side of things, there are a couple different options. The first option and most common one would be to enlist in the reserves and go the corpsman route. That being said, that would most certainly underutilize your health care admin degree until a much later point (E-7 and above). Unless there were rare stipulations or circumstances, there would also be a low chance of you being offered any sort of "package deal" to come in at a higher pay grade than what would be offered to anyone else, but you'd still have the choice between officer or enlisted.

To be a health care administrator or do something in that sort of field, you have to be senior enlisted and assigned to an administrative billet, a warrant officer after having to go the enlisted route first (E-6 testing in the top 50% for E-7 and at least 8 years in service, or E-7 and above), or be a commissioned officer in which they may or may not take your degree into account. There are also a limited amount of healthcare administrator locations as a reservist because the service is so small; you would basically be drilling out of Norfolk, VA or Oakland/Alameda, CA, and while your job would be related to healthcare admin, more of it would be focused on policy and medical readiness instead of you actually getting to run a clinic. There's definitely some admin positions at CGHQ in Washington D.C., but they may only be active duty positions.

Another option would be the medical officer route (PA or MD/DO) in which you may be able to fill a health care administrator role, but it doesn't sound like that's the path you're taking. In any case, the medical officers commissioned through the Coast Guard are physician assistants, and most of the MD/DO officers are commissioned and attached to us through the U.S. Public Health Service. Some of them do get assigned to administrative roles.

Regarding the USPHS, I know that they have healthcare administrator positions which would require the MBA you're pursuing, but I don't know if they have a reserve branch, and they are nowhere near in as much demand as the individual medical specialties. There is the "Ready Reserve Corps" which I think is through them, but I can't remember if that was ever put into effect. I have absolutely no idea what they do for drills, and I think they get activated during "major times of crisis" like Katrina, the Haiti earthquake, Sandy, etc.

I'll try to look into this a bit more for you to see if I can find some more answers or more specific information from sources, but your best option would be to either go through a recruiter, or if you can get in contact with them, a reserve assignment officer.

Response by CPO Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 22 at 2016 8:30 PM

2016-04-22T20:30:48-04:00

Consider the PHS. Not RESERVE but an outstanding health care uniform service.