Assessing Readiness in Service Members Who Receive Private-Sector Behavioral Health Care

Ensuring that service members who receive behavioral health (BH) care receive routine readiness assessments is critical to maintaining a ready military force. Routine assessments of service members' medical readiness and deployability help identify any acute or chronic health conditions—physical or psychological—that could negatively affect a service member's ability to perform their military duties. Service members may receive BH care from a military treatment facility (MTF) provider (often referred to as direct care) or from a TRICARE-contracted civilian provider in the community (often referred to as private-sector care). While readiness assessments are routinely included in clinical encounters at MTFs, it has been unclear how readiness assessments are being conducted for service members seen in private-sector care. This report presents the findings and integration of two analyses—of administrative treatment data and of qualitative interviews with MTF administrators and clinical staff—that can inform policymaking and planning to improve readiness assessments and command communication for service members receiving private-sector BH care.