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by Air Force Surgeon General Public Affairs
FALLS CHURCH, Va. — In a ceremony Friday, June 28, at the Defense Health Headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia, the Air Force Medical Service stood up a new field operating agency, the Air Force Medical Readiness Agency.
Lt. Gen. Dorothy Hogg, Air Force Surgeon General, and Brig. Gen. Mark Koeniger, incoming AFMRA commander, spoke at the ceremony, heralding a new era in Air Force Medicine.
“We are in exciting and historic times as we engage in multiple lines of effort to transform our organization to support a more ready Air Force,” said Hogg. “Activating AFMRA streamlines our organization from a dual-focus on health benefit delivery and readiness, to one laser focused on readiness.”
AFMRA increases the Air Force focus on operational medical readiness and supports the Air Force Secretary’s goal of a more ready fighting force. The organization will oversee medical readiness programs, expeditionary medical capabilities, and readiness-related Air Force mission support requirements. It will also assist the Surgeon General in developing the policies to support Air Force major commands and base-level unit missions.
Standing up AFMRA fulfills a requirement from the fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act to establish a readiness-focused organization. The previous two FOAs in the AFMS, the Air Force Medical Operations Agency and the Air Force Medical Support Agency, were stood down at the same ceremony.
“AFMRA lets us be more responsive to emerging readiness requirements,” said Koeniger. “AFMRA improves our support to the readiness mission at military treatment facilities and Air Force major commands, while also helping the Defense Health Agency take on management of the health care benefit at MTFs.”
Koeniger is coming to AFMRA after commanding the 711th Human Performance Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
To ensure continued support to MTFs, AFMRA will temporarily retain many capabilities focused on managing health benefit delivery at MTFs. These capabilities will move the DHA in future years.
At stand up, AFMRA headquarters is in Falls Church, Virginia, at the Defense Health Headquarters. Other AFMRA components are split between Falls Church and the former AFMOA offices in San Antonio, Texas. Future locations for the organization are still being determined. AFMRA is expected to reach full operating capability in 2020.
“We activate AFMRA with our eyes on the future,” said Hogg. “We will continue to provide world class readiness support, and modernize our capabilities to meet the demands of the Air Force we need.”
AFMRA is part of sweeping reform in the AFMS and the overall Military Health System. The next phase of reform is the administrative transition of service MTFs to Defense Health Agency responsibility Oct. 1.
