DECEMBER 17, 2025 – The Military Health System recently streamlined the provider-privileging process to allow health care providers to seamlessly transfer their privileges between MHS entities with minimal interruption to patient care duties. This change results in reduced administrative burden and increased patient access.
As of Oct. 15, 2025, health care providers retain their clinical privileges when moving within the enterprise, including across stateside and overseas military hospitals, clinics, and deployed settings.
“Health care providers should be able to focus on their patients. With portable privileges, they can do so more quickly,” said Dr. Stephen Ferrara, acting assistant secretary of war for Health Affairs.
Provider privileging promotes quality care
Provider privileging is a key component of maintaining the highest quality and safety of care we deliver in the MHS. Clinical privileges define a provider’s scope of practice and are based on factors such as relevant training and experience, current competence, health status, and judgment, and peer and department head recommendations.
Under the previous system, providers were required to complete a privileging action each time they transferred to different care settings, adding additional time to the process before providers could render care. With the expanded policy, when transferring between MHS entities, health care providers sign an attestation for an approved scope of work, eliminating the need for a privileging action or transfer briefing and allowing the provider to focus on patient care.
More effective privileging means accelerated care
Ferrara said that removing obstacles and barriers allows providers to do what they are passionate about — treating patients.
This supports mission readiness by reducing delays in patient care, Ferrara said. “To ensure the warfighter is fit to fight tonight, the Military Health System needs to operate as efficiently as possible. After moving to another facility, this allows our providers to start seeing patients right away instead of waiting weeks or even months to repeat this process.”
“Enterprise-wide privileging is just one of many efforts to make the Military Health System more agile. Previously, our health care providers renewed their privileges every two years. With this expanded policy, we have extended the renewal window to three years to reduce their administrative load,” said Ferrara.
The rigorous process of acquiring privileges remains the same, and there are no changes about the quality assurance of the credentialing standards for health care providers. Health care providers will also remain subject to the adverse action protocols at the setting in which they are practicing.
The new policy spearheads faster, more flexible operations as the MHS remains committed to excellence in care by enabling a ready medical force.
Story by Andrew Ortuzar
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs/Military Health System