S.Amdt. 6048

SA 6048. Mr. REED (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5499 submitted by Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 7900, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2023 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle B of title VII, insert the following:

SEC. 730. ESTABLISHMENT OF CORE CASUALTY RECEIVING FACILITIES TO IMPROVE MEDICAL FORCE GENERATION AND READINESS.

(a) In General.--Pursuant to the requirements of this section, the Secretary of Defense shall establish certain military medical treatment facilities as Core Casualty Receiving Facilities to maintain the medical capability and capacity required to diagnose, treat, and rehabilitate large volume combat casualties and to provide a medical response to natural disasters, mass casualty events, or other national emergencies as may be directed by the President or the Secretary.

(b) Location of Facilities.--The Secretary shall ensure that facilities established under subsection (a) are geographically located to facilitate aeromedical evacuation of casualties from military operational theaters.

(c) Timeline for Establishment.--

(1) Designation.--Not later than October 1, 2024, the Secretary shall designate four military medical treatment facilities as Core Casualty Receiving Facilities to be established under subsection (a).

(2) Operational.--Not later than October 1, 2025, the Secretary shall ensure that the facilities designated under paragraph (1) are fully staffed and operational.

(d) Personnel Assignment.--

(1) In general.--The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that the Secretaries of the military departments assign military personnel to Core Casualty Receiving Facilities established under subsection (a) at not less than 90 percent of the staffing level needed to maintain operating bed capacities to support operation planning requirements.

(2) Use of civilian personnel.--The Secretary of Defense may augment the staffing of military personnel at Core Casualty Receiving Facilities established under subsection (a) with civilian personnel to achieve the staffing requirement under paragraph (1).

(3) Executive staffing.--The Secretary shall staff each Core Casualty Receiving Facility established under subsection (a) with a civilian Chief Financial Officer and a civilian Chief Operations Officer with experience in the management of civilian hospital systems to ensure continuity in management of the facility.

(e) Funding.--The Secretary shall include with the submission to Congress by the President of the annual budget of the Department of Defense for a fiscal year under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, a line item budget request for each Core Casualty Receiving Facility established under subsection (a) that includes the funding requirements for the operation and maintenance of each such facility.

(f) Definitions.--In this section:

(1) Core casualty receiving facilities.--The term “Core Casualty Receiving Facilities” means Role 4 medical treatment facilities that serve as the medical hubs for receipt of casualties that may result from combat, natural disasters, mass casualty events, or other national emergencies.

(2) Role 4 medical treatment facilities.--The term “Role 4 medical treatment facilities” means facilities that provide the full range of preventative, curative, acute, convalescent, restorative, and rehabilitative care.