CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS — Naval Health Clinic Corpus Christi, including its San Antonio Detachment and Branch Health Clinics in Kingsville and Fort Worth, officially transitioned under the management and administration of the Defense Health Agency on Oct. 1, 2019.
To support NHC Corpus Christi's transition, Navy Medicine is establishing a co-located Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC).
Navy Medicine, through the NMRTC, retains command and control of the uniformed medical force and maintains responsibility and authority for operational readiness. This includes the medical readiness of Sailors and Marines, as well as the clinical readiness of the medical force.
The Corpus Christi NMRTC will improve the ability of NHC Corpus Christi to meet the needs of operational commanders. Survivability of Navy and Marine Corps personnel in the future warfighting environment requires a medical force that's ready to deploy and save lives immediately.
NMRTC Corpus Christi will report to Naval Medical Forces Atlantic (NMFA), formerly known as Navy Medicine East, which in turn is accountable to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.
Capt. Eric Evans will serve as both the Military Medical Treatment Facility director under the DHA and the NMRTC commanding officer under Navy Medicine.
"The establishment of NMRTC Corpus Christi will bring with it a renewed focus on readiness," Evans said. "Providing a medical force that is trained, ready, and able to deploy and save lives anywhere, at any time is paramount to survivability and mission success."
The change in administration, management, and control will be seamless to patients - service members, retirees, and family members - with little or no immediate effect on their experience of care.
"Keeping Sailors, Marines, and their families healthy, ready and on the job is what we do, and our commitment to providing reliable, patient-centered care will not waiver," Evans said. "Providing our service members, retirees, and family members with the best possible patient care experience is, and always will be, our number one priority at Naval Health Clinic Corpus Christi."
To achieve Congress' requirements in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, the DHA will assume administration and management of all military treatment facilities (MTFs). This transition will increase efficiency by eliminating duplication and enhancing standardization and consistency across the military services.
For the foreseeable future, all facilities' names will remain the same and will maintain their Navy affiliation.
While DHA will be responsible for health care delivery and business operations, Navy Medicine will retain principal responsibility for the operational readiness of the medical force.
Naval Health Clinic Corpus Christi and it's Naval Branch Health Clinic Fort Worth and Naval Branch Health Clinic Kingsville provide ambulatory care services to over 13,000 enrolled beneficiaries comprised of active military duty, their family members, retirees and their family members in South Texas and Dallas/Fort Worth.
Also, Naval Health Clinic Corpus Christi San Antonio Detachment provides primary care services to Navy students at the Medical Education & Training Campus at Fort Sam Houston, and case management services and medical board management to Navy and Marine Corps Wounded, Ill and Injured Warriors at San Antonio Military Medical Center.
