Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) is an agency of the United States Department of the Navy that manages health care activities for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. BUMED operates hospitals and other health care facilities as well as laboratories for biomedical research, and trains and manages the Navy's many staff corps related to medicine. Its headquarters is located at the Defense Health Headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia.^[1] BUMED has 63,000 medical personnel and more than a million eligible beneficiaries.^[2]

History

BUMED was one of the original five Navy bureaus formed in 1842 to replace the Board of Navy Commissioners. It is one of two bureaus still in existence.^[3] BUMED was housed at the Old Naval Observatory from 1942 until 2012.^[3][4]

In 2005, Navy Medicine aligned its shore facilities into four overarching commands: Navy Medicine East, Navy Medicine West, Navy Medicine National Capital Area, and Navy Medicine Support Command.^[5] In 2012, Navy Medicine Support Command was renamed and realigned into the Navy Medicine Education and Training Command, with its non-training units becoming independent under BUMED.^[6] Navy Medicine National Capital Area's largest component, the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, was merged in 2011 with Walter Reed Army Medical Center to form the joint Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The merged facility came under the jurisdiction of the new Joint Task Force National Capital Region/Medical, and in 2013, Navy Medicine National Capital Area was disestablished, with its few remaining facilities transferred to Navy Medicine East.^[7]

While a 2006 report of the Defense Business Board recommended that the Army, Navy, and Air Force medical commands be merged into a single joint command, citing savings in budget and personnel, this recommendation was not carried out and in 2012 the Defense Health Agency (DHA) was established separately from the military medical commands.^[8] All three military medical commands were however all moved to share the new Defense Health Headquarters facility in Falls Church with DHA, again as a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure.^[3]

Organization

Departments

The commanding officer of BUMED is the Surgeon General of the United States Navy, a Vice Admiral. BUMED is divided into ten departments, each referred to with an alphanumerical code. Each of the staff corps is headed by a Rear Admiral, except for the Hospital Corps which is headed by a Force Master Chief Petty Officer owing to its status as an enlisted rating. The other department heads are mostly either Rear Admirals or civilians.^[9][10]

• M00: Corps Chiefs
  • Medical Corps
  • Dental Corps
  • Nurse Corps
  • Medical Service Corps
  • Hospital Corps
• M1: Manpower and Resources - Total Force
• M2: Research and Development
• M3: Medical Operations
• M4: Installations and Logistics
• M5: Future Operations
• M6: Information Management/Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
• M7: Education and Training
• M8: Comptroller and Resource Management
• M9: Wounded, Ill and Injured

Subordinate commands

Defense Health Headquarters, Falls Church, Virginia

Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia

Naval Medical Center San Diego, California

Naval Hospital Naples, Italy

Naval Hospital Yokosuka Japan

Naval Health Clinic Charleston, South Carolina

USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) off the coast of East Timor

BUMED operates the following facilities and commands:^[11]

• Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Falls Church, Virginia

Navy Medicine East:

• Navy Medicine East, Portsmouth, Virginia^[12]
  • Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Virginia
  • Naval Hospital Beaufort, Beaufort, South Carolina
  • Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina
  • Naval Hospital Guantanamo Bay, Guantanamo, Cuba
  • Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida
  • Naval Hospital Naples, Naples, Italy
  • Naval Hospital Pensacola, Pensacola, Florida
  • Naval Hospital Rota, Rota, Cádiz, Spain
  • Naval Hospital Sigonella, Sigonella, Italy
  • Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center, Great Lakes, Illinois
  • Naval Health Clinic Annapolis, Annapolis, Maryland
  • Naval Health Clinic Charleston, North Charleston, South Carolina
  • Naval Health Clinic Cherry Point, Cherry Point, North Carolina
  • Naval Health Clinic Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas
  • Naval Health Clinic New England, Newport, Rhode Island
  • Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River, Patuxent River, Maryland
  • Naval Health Clinic Quantico, Quantico, Virginia
  • 2nd Dental Battalion, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

Navy Medicine West:

• Navy Medicine West, San Diego, California^[13]
  • Naval Medical Center San Diego, San Diego, California
  • Naval Hospital Bremerton, Bremerton, Washington
  • Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, Camp Pendleton, California
  • Naval Hospital Lemoore, Lemoore, California
  • Naval Hospital Oak Harbor, Oak Harbor, Washington
  • Naval Hospital Twentynine Palms, Twentynine Palms, California
  • Naval Hospital Guam, Agana Heights, Guam
  • Naval Hospital Okinawa, Okinawa, Japan
  • Naval Hospital Yokosuka Japan, Yokosuka, Japan
  • Naval Health Clinic Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
  • 1st Dental Battalion, Camp Pendleton, California
  • 3rd Dental Battalion, Okinawa, Japan

Education and Training Command:

• Navy Medicine Education and Training Command, San Antonio, Texas^[14]
  • Navy Medicine Professional Development Center, Bethesda, Maryland
  • Navy Medicine Training Support Center, San Antonio, Texas
  • Navy Medicine Operational Training Center, Pensacola, Florida

Other commands:

• Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, Maryland^[15]
  • Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, California
  • Naval Medical Research Unit 2, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
  • Naval Medical Research Unit 3, Cairo, Egypt
  • Naval Medical Research Unit 6, Lima, Peru
  • Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton, Dayton, Ohio
  • Naval Medical Research Unit San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
  • Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory, Groton, Connecticut
• Naval Medical Logistics Command, Fort Detrick, Maryland^[14]
  • Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity, Yorktown, Virginia^[16]
• Navy Medicine Information Systems Support Activity, San Antonio, Texas^[14]
• Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center, Portsmouth, Virginia^[14]
  • Navy Drug Screening Lab Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida^[17]

Hospital ships:

While the Medical Treatment Facility on each hospital ship is operated by BUMED's medical personnel, the ships themselves are operated by civilian mariners employed by Military Sealift Command.^[18][19]

• USNS Mercy (T-AH-19), San Diego, California
• USNS Comfort (T-AH-20), Norfolk, Virginia

References

9. Navy Medicine Leadership. http://www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/navybio.asp?bioID=602

External links

• BUMED website
• US Navy Medicine at Navy History and Heritage Command
• The Society for the History of Navy Medicine
• BUMED Office of Medical History Collection

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