§2.Military-civilian medical surge program
This section establishes the Military-Civilian Medical Surge Program as a new subsection (e) of 10 U.S.C. §1096 (which currently authorizes resource-sharing agreements between uniformed services facilities and civilian health care providers contracted under 10 U.S.C. §§1079, 1086, or 1097) and revises the section heading to add "; medical surge program".
The program, carried out by the Secretary of Defense (SecDef) in collaboration with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), supports SecDef-selected locations and enhances interoperability and medical surge capability and capacity of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS)—a federal system that coordinates civilian and military medical resources for disaster response—in response to triggers including national emergencies, public health emergencies, declarations of war, contingency operations, exercises of War Powers Resolution authorities, or other presidentially declared emergencies or major disasters.
SecDef, acting through the Institute for Defense Health Cooperation at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (or successor), oversees program management, staffing, and deployment in coordination with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Defense Health Agency (DHA) Director, HHS (to ensure consistency), military departments, and Joint Staff via semiannual meetings, quarterly updates, and annual partner-involved meetings; during contingency operations, DHA provides combat support to relevant combatant commands; and SecDef maintains requirements for staffing, specialized training, research, and education on patient regulation, movement, definitive care, and related matters.
SecDef must establish partnerships at not fewer than eight U.S. locations operationally relevant to DoD missions under NDMS (e.g., aeromedical or transport hubs or logistics centers; additional locations, including outside the continental U.S., permitted if strategically relevant) with public, private, nonprofit, and academic health care entities determined critical for civilian medical mobilization during wartime contingencies or catastrophic events and proficient in high-consequence infectious disease, special pathogen preparedness, defense, containment, management, care, and transportation; such partnerships enable rapid civilian medical support to military treatment facilities and other military health system requirements.
Not later than 180 days after enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, and annually thereafter, SecDef must submit to specified congressional committees a report assessing program status, readiness, operational capabilities, personnel readiness, resource availability, interagency coordination, and improvement recommendations. The provision does not affect HHS authorities over NDMS leadership, administration, public health preparedness/response, staffing, or resource allocation.