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CORPS LEVEL (ECHELON III) AND COMMZ LEVEL (ECHELON IV)
Corps and COMMZ level medical support is provided by units assigned to the
corps medical group, medical brigade, or theater Army (TA) medical command. Area
medical support is provided by units such as the area support medical battalion, dental
battalions, veterinary service units, and preventive medicine units. Facilities are
organized and equipped in modules that contain standardized medical equipment sets
(MES) or medical material sets (MMS). The mission for the hospital system is two-fold.
First, it is designed to maximize return to duty of patients. Second, it provides the
necessary treatment to stabilize those patients not expected to return to duty for
evacuation within the limits of the theater evacuation policy.
a. Echelon III Corps Level Hospitals. At Echelon III, patients are admitted to
and treated in the combat support hospital (CSH), which is staffed and equipped to
provide care for all categories of patients. Here, patients are treated and held within the
parameters of the theater/corps evacuation policy. Patients are either returned to duty
or evacuated to an Echelon IV hospital. The CSH is a 296-bed facility and is normally
deployed in the corps area.
b. Echelon IV COMMZ Level Hospitals.
(1) At Echelon IV, the patients receive medical care in hospitals that are
staffed and equipped to provide general and specialized medical care. There are two
different hospitals employed at Echelon IV. One is employed to recondition and
rehabilitate soldiers who can be returned to duty within theater policy guidelines. The
other is employed to treat and stabilize patients destined to be evacuated to Echelon V
(CONUS based hospitals).
(a) The general hospital (GH) is a 476-bed hospital that provides care to
all classes of patients. The GH is the primary conduit for patients awaiting evacuation
to CONUS.
(b) The field hospital (FH) is a 505-bed hospital that is staffed and
equipped to treat all categories of patients. However, its principal mission is to treat and
rehabilitate those patients who can return to duty within the stated theater evacuation
policy.
(2) The medical treatment company receives, sorts, and provides
resuscitation and stabilization of patients until evacuated and provides treatment for
patients with minor illnesses or injuries. It may be employed to expand hospital
capacities or as a holding facility of up to 1200 total cots for minimal care patients. It is
100 percent mobile and is allocated on the basis of one per division supported in the
combat zone and one per two divisions supported in the COMMZ.
(3) This echelon characterizes the theater (operational) level combat health
support system, which is oriented toward providing support to the forward deployed
corps. Echelon IV contains all the services outlined for Echelon III to include theater
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