Preventitive health assessments, the medical standards process and you

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Colbie Stephenson
  • 2nd Medical Group
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La., --  If you've been to the 2nd Medical Group lately for a preventive health assessment or to get a medical clearance from the physical standards flight, you may have noticed some changes.

The fly-PHA, non-fly PHA and physical standards flight are now all working together as a team to provide improved customer service.

The process for PHAs at the 2 MDG is continuously improving. The purpose remains to ensure Airmen remain healthy and have no existing health issues which would prevent them from deploying.
The PHA process is initiated through the "preventive health assessments and individual medical readiness" database which is used to produce the PIMR report. The PIMR report is a tool that 2 MDG staff uses to improve Barksdale's overall readiness. PIMR is a snapshot in time and updates daily.

How do you know if you need a PHA? Your unit deployment monitor, unit health monitor or PHA schedulers, access a monthly report from aeromedical services information management system in order to find out who's due. This database provides, by unit, the name of each member who is due for their PHA. Each UDM is responsible for scheduling PHAs for Airmen in their unit.

Flyers are authorized to have a PHA starting at 335 days from their last PHA. Members should contact their squadron UDM to schedule an appointment. Once the 365-day mark from the last PHA has been met, members have 90 days to complete their next PHA. If flyers do not complete these requirements within 455 days from their last PHA, they will likely be suspended from all flying duties.

For non-fly members, the UDM contacts the 2 MDG PHA cell. If short-notice deployers are due or overdue and need an appointment before their unit's scheduled day or their UDM doesn't have appointment slots available, they can contact the PHA cell to accommodate their situation.

Non-PRP members are highly encouraged to complete their Web-based health assessment online. PRP members will be able to complete their assessment at the clinic during their appointment time. All members who wear prescription glasses must bring them to their PHA appointment so an accurate visual exam can be accomplished during the appointment.

Lastly, for members looking to retire, retrain or who have questions about their profile, the medical standards Element of Public Health is available to assist. Medical standards is a walk-in clinic offering services for retirements and separations, special duty assignments and retraining, overseas permanent change of station clearance, security clearances and oversight of all duty limiting conditions.

They are located in the PHA hallway in the aerospace medicine wing of the 2 MDG. Hours of operation are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Tuesday and Friday 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Please note the second Thursday of each month the 2 MDG will close at 12 p.m. for training. The medical standards technicians can be reached at 456-3128 or 456-2997.