Staff Perspective: CDP’s Tool to Help Understand Readiness Evaluations
Service members, including Active Duty (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force), Reserve Units, and National Guard members, are referred to network providers for a wide range of medical care, including behavioral health services. Receiving care outside of a military treatment facility can be more complex than typical civilian healthcare. This is due to the unique demands of military service, such as strict physical fitness standards, operational responsibilities, and the need to handle weapons and sensitive equipment. As a result, service members must consistently demonstrate fitness for duty through regular readiness evaluations. These assessments are often part of routine medical appointments, though they may also occur separately.
When care is provided outside of the military system, periodic check-ins are required to assess whether the service member can meet military retention standards. These evaluations determine if the service member can continue full duties, requires temporary duty restrictions, or may need permanent restrictions, potentially leading to medical retirement.
This process differs from civilian healthcare practices, even though it shares some similarities with evaluations for pilots or law enforcement officers. To help civilian providers better understand military medical requirements, we have developed a set of tools to clarify these expectations and processes.
We have developed a new frequently asked questions (FAQ) handout for community providers, outlining the process of readiness evaluations, sometimes called Fitness for Duty evaluations, for service members who are seeking behavioral health care in the community.
In addition to our FAQ, we also have two videos (Military Readiness & Military Readiness and Behavioral Health) that walk providers through the background of the assessments, as well as the process of a request for information, and what it might look like for a behavioral health provider.
Finally, there are three blog posts (What is Readiness and Why is it so Important; Overview of Military Readiness Assessments; Private Sector Providers and Readiness) that describe this process in detail, as well as include a step-by-step guide if and when a provider finds that a military official is requesting information about your patient, in the name of a readiness evaluation or fitness for duty.
Again, these can seem like a foreign process if you are working outside a military hospital, military treatment facility, or MTF; however, these are all typical processes within the military medical system, and hopefully, these resources can help clear up some of the ambiguity, mitigate anxiety, and guide providers through this process.
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
Amanda McCabe, Psy.D., is a Military Behavioral Health Psychologist with the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. In this capacity, she develops and presents trainings on a variety of evidence based therapies. Prior to the CDP, Dr. McCabe served as a clinical psychologist in the Army from 2013 to 2024.
Service members, including Active Duty (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force), Reserve Units, and National Guard members, are referred to network providers for a wide range of medical care, including behavioral health services. Receiving care outside of a military treatment facility can be more complex than typical civilian healthcare. This is due to the unique demands of military service, such as strict physical fitness standards, operational responsibilities, and the need to handle weapons and sensitive equipment. As a result, service members must consistently demonstrate fitness for duty through regular readiness evaluations. These assessments are often part of routine medical appointments, though they may also occur separately.
When care is provided outside of the military system, periodic check-ins are required to assess whether the service member can meet military retention standards. These evaluations determine if the service member can continue full duties, requires temporary duty restrictions, or may need permanent restrictions, potentially leading to medical retirement.
This process differs from civilian healthcare practices, even though it shares some similarities with evaluations for pilots or law enforcement officers. To help civilian providers better understand military medical requirements, we have developed a set of tools to clarify these expectations and processes.
We have developed a new frequently asked questions (FAQ) handout for community providers, outlining the process of readiness evaluations, sometimes called Fitness for Duty evaluations, for service members who are seeking behavioral health care in the community.
In addition to our FAQ, we also have two videos (Military Readiness & Military Readiness and Behavioral Health) that walk providers through the background of the assessments, as well as the process of a request for information, and what it might look like for a behavioral health provider.
Finally, there are three blog posts (What is Readiness and Why is it so Important; Overview of Military Readiness Assessments; Private Sector Providers and Readiness) that describe this process in detail, as well as include a step-by-step guide if and when a provider finds that a military official is requesting information about your patient, in the name of a readiness evaluation or fitness for duty.
Again, these can seem like a foreign process if you are working outside a military hospital, military treatment facility, or MTF; however, these are all typical processes within the military medical system, and hopefully, these resources can help clear up some of the ambiguity, mitigate anxiety, and guide providers through this process.
The opinions in CDP Staff Perspective blogs are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science or the Department of Defense.
Amanda McCabe, Psy.D., is a Military Behavioral Health Psychologist with the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. In this capacity, she develops and presents trainings on a variety of evidence based therapies. Prior to the CDP, Dr. McCabe served as a clinical psychologist in the Army from 2013 to 2024.