For Official Use Only – Not for Public Release
Dear Public Health Service Officers,
In concert with the U. S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps’ “Modernization Initiative,” I am pleased to announce the updated Commissioned Corps Directive (CCD) 151.05, “Health Professions Special Pays (HPSP),” Commissioned Corps Instruction (CCI) 633.01, “Special Pays,” and Personnel Operations Memorandum (POM) 821.70, “HPSP Submission, Effective Dates, and Rates.” These policies incentivize officers who are most needed to care for patients and public health directly aligned to USPHS’ unique missions to serve the nation through deployments and public health outreach to communities. Importantly, these changes ensure retention of key categories essential to carrying out the core public health mission of our service and also includes language for Ready Reserve implementation.
Over the past year, many of you raised questions such as Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USU) training obligations and other categories that were not originally included in HPSP. While we were updating the policies to make them apply to the Ready Reserve, leadership incorporated many of these issues into the revision of the policies (see below changes).
HPSP are designed to compensate Commissioned Corps officers for their training or skills that are necessary to accomplish the mission of the U.S. Public Health Service. HPSP includes incentive pay, bonuses (accession, critical wartime skills accession (CWS), or retention), and board certification incentive pay for officers in health professions in the Medical, Dental, Nurse, Scientist, Veterinary, Pharmacy, Dietitian, Therapy, and Health Services categories. In return for special pay, the officer commits to serve in the USPHS Commissioned Corps for a specified number of years.
The requirements for HPSP are different for different types of special pay and the applicable officers’ categories. To understand if you qualify for HPSP, you should check the policies listed below for specific details. CCHQ has developed Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) (link) and webinars to help Corps officers understand these policies.
Effective January 28, 2018, the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps transitioned to the HPSP program in accordance with Title 37 U.S.C §335. CCHQ refined these policies in 2019. The current policy included these previous changes along with the following:
Several essential updates to CCD 151.05:
- Add that members of the Ready Reserve Corps are eligible for HPSP; and
- Clarify that an officer must submit an agreement for an Accession Bonus or Critical Wartime Skills Accession Bonus that CCHQ receives within 180 days of officer’s appointment to the USPHS Commissioned Corps.
New elements to CCI 633.01:
- Include a provision that allows officers who entered the USU School of Medicine prior to 30 December 2019 to enter up to three Retention Bonus (RB) agreements and serve the resulting active duty obligations (ADO) concurrent with the USUHS ADO and the training ADO from their initial residency. Officers who entered USU School of Medicine after 30 December 2019 must complete 7 of their 10-year USU ADO (with residency/internships not counting toward that ADO) before receiving an RB;
- Include a provision that allows officers who on 30 December 2019 were serving an ADO resulting from graduate professional education (GPE) or who incurred a GPE training ADO prior to 30 December 2019, but had not begun serving it, to enter into an RB agreement and to serve the resulting ADO concurrent with the GPE ADO;
- Add an AB and RB for eligible licensed independent clinical Social Workers;
- Change the period to 12 months that an officer is ineligible for an HPSP due to an absence without leave also known as AWOL to align with other USPHS Commissioned Corps Instructions;
- Clarify the eligibility criteria for an Accession Bonus and Critical Short Wartime Specialty Accession Bonus (CWS-AB) for individuals who the USPHS Commissioned Corps is appointing from a federal civil service position;
- Remove Obstetrics/Gynecology, Otolaryngology, and Pediatrics from eligibility for CWS-AB as a result of the Secretary of Defense removing these specialties from eligibility for this bonus;
- Add that the USPHS Commissioned Corps may pay an HPSP to qualified members of the Ready Reserve Corps and that members may serve the resulting commissioned service obligations (CSO) in the reserve component. The policy also outlines the eligibility requirements for such members to receive an HPSP;
- Allow members of the Ready Reserve Corps who transfer to the Regular Corps to fulfill their CSO from an HPSP in an active duty status; and
- Add HPSP pay tables for Ready Reserve Corps.
New elements to POM 821.70:
- Clarify the required documentation to include officer’s license, certification, residency certificate, or other documents;
- Add provisions for when the Director, CCHQ, can retroactively adjust the date of an HPSP agreement by three months (or to 1 October 2020 for RB agreements for officers who attended the USU School of Medicine before 30 December 2019 or who incurred an ADO from GPE training prior to 30 December 2019, if requested before May 11, 2021).
The National Defense Authorization Act and 37 U.S.C. § 335, “Special bonus and incentive pay authorities for officers in health professions,” authorize these special pays and govern the rates and limits on each type of pay. These policies align with how all of the other uniformed services are implementing these special pay authorities.
These changes went into effect on January 11, 2021. Updated Health Professions Special Pays Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and a webinar have been developed to help you understand the new policy updates. If you have additional questions after reviewing the policies, FAQs, and webinar, please contact your agency liaison representative for assistance.
We recognize that achieving a full understanding of the changes with HPSP will require your time, thought, and energy as you read the policy, review the FAQs, and watch the webinar. For now, I hope that sharing this information helps you share my optimism for our future as a united USPHS team.
Respectfully,
Susan M. Orsega
RADM, USPHS
Acting Surgeon General
Director, Commissioned Corps Headquarters
For Official Use Only – Not for Public Release