Changes are coming to Naval Hospital Beaufort. Here’s what a new Pentagon report says
A military hospital in northern Beaufort County will no longer serve overnight patients as part of widespread changes to U.S. military medical facilities detailed in a recent Pentagon report.
Naval Hospital Beaufort in Port Royal is one of hundreds of medical facilities military officials assessed for potential changes. A report given to Congress on Wednesday says the the facility immediately will begin the transition from a hospital to providing only outpatient care, including surgeries.
The hospital includes a fenced campus on 127 acres on the Beaufort River and separate health clinics at Marine Corps Air Station and Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island.
The base treats recruits on Parris Island, personnel at the Air Station and Navy service members, as well as dependents and military retirees. Those who previously needed to be hospitalized at the Naval Hospital will now have to seek care at private facilities within their network, including Beaufort Memorial Hospital.
The report to Congress also included a list of facilities that will no longer offer care to military retirees and active-duty families. Naval Hospital Beaufort was not among them.
Planning for the changes will be implemented within three months, according to the report. The transition is expected to affect 120 military personnel and 62 civilian employees at Naval Hospital Beaufort, the document says.
A Pentagon analysis determined Beaufort Memorial, which admits 9,000 patients each year, can take on the fewer than 300 patients admitted each year to the military hospital.
During a site visit in March 2019 as part of an assessment of hundreds of military medical facilities, local Marine leaders said drill instructors could drop off recruits for care at the naval hospital and return to training, knowing the recruits wouldn’t be released early. The hospital would call the Marines when they were ready to be discharged and picked up. Marine officials expressed concerns about possible extended wait times for emergency care at a private facility or having to drive to Savannah if Beaufort Memorial were full.
A recent facilities assessment by the Defense Health Agency indicated a need to replace clinic buildings at the Air Station and on Parris Island, according to the Pentagon documents. That assessment also included some Naval Hospital Beaufort facilities moving to MCAS Beaufort to form a “super clinic.”
Naval Hospital Beaufort will continue to have overnight beds for recruits who don’t need hospitalization but because of illness need to be kept from other recruits on Parris Island.
The National Defense Authorization Act in 2016 required that all military facilities move under oversight of the Defense Health Agency. The law also required the Pentagon to report its recommendations to Congress. The report, “Restructuring and Realignment of Military Medical Treatment Facilities,” was submitted this week.
Of the 343 U.S. facilities assessed for the report, 50 are slated for changes. Thirty-eight facilities will no longer serve military retirees or their families, including three clinics that will close entirely.
The announced moves are the latest in a series of changes in recent years at Naval Hospital Beaufort, which serves an estimated 35,000 active-duty military members, retirees and their families.
The Naval Hospital announced in 2019 it was closing its urgent-care clinic and extending the hours for primary care service. In 2014, the hospital closed its emergency room, ended obstetrics services and reduced its gynecology, surgical and pediatric services.
In a speech to federal health officials in December, the head of the Defense Health Agency said restructuring some medical facilities meant identifying which operations should be expanded where appropriate.
“But we also must examine those areas where facilities do not offer now, and likely will not be able to offer in the future, a platform for maximizing capabilities to support medical readiness,” said Tom McCaffery, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, according to a military release. “In those situations, we need to be open to right-sizing (medical treatment facility) services and capabilities so as to ensure that we are using finite resources most efficiently... while not compromising our ability to meet mission.”
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
