(The Center Square) – Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, and Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, introduced a bill on Wednesday that seeks to help military medics and corpsmen transition to civilian healthcare careers.
The Medic Education and Deployment into Civilian (MEDIC) Careers Act of 2025 attempts to eliminate bureaucratic and credential barriers that make it difficult for military-trained healthcare workers to get a job in civilian healthcare.
This bill will standardize its military medic training to align more closely with civilian credentialing requirements. In addition, the bill will look into the military’s current transition programs for military health workers.
The MEDIC Careers Act would also investigate the potential impact of states refining their equivalencies between military training and civilian health care licenses.
Furthermore, this bill would provide an update to the Department of Defense’s Health Care Workforce Preparedness and Response Pilot Program, which supports civilian health care providers and service members in hiring, training and retention efforts while also leveraging Government Issue benefits.
This bill would provide $5 million to this program annually from 2026 to 2033.
Kelly and Rounds introduced this bill as America faces a future of not having enough nurses. The U.S. Department of Labor projects America will have a nursing shortage of 275,000 workers by 2030.
With this projected shortage, over 173,000 healthcare workers are currently serving in the military, according to Kelly’s press release.
Many of these workers are military medics who serve in combat zones, hospitals and clinics. Kelly’s press release noted when healthcare personnel leave the military, they often have to undergo the same training, which slows down their entry into the civil workforce.
The Arizona senator stated the healthcare workforce is stretched too thin, “while many highly trained military medics are underutilized once they leave service because of red tape.”
“That’s a missed opportunity. These men and women already have the training and experience to step into critical health care roles,” Kelly, who is a Navy veteran, said. “We should be clearing a path so they can keep doing what they do best: saving lives.”
The MEDIC Careers Act has the support of 50strong and HonorHealth.
50strong is a company that helps veterans transition to civilian careers, and HonorHealth is a healthcare network in Phoenix.
Kandi Tillman, 50strong’s co-founder, said this bill provides an opportunity to “review barriers that may exist in today’s workforce and to provide a pilot mechanism to explore smart solutions.”
Tillman stated allowing military professionals to “practice in roles that reflect the scope of their military health care training, helps healthcare access in America and ensures “transitioning veterans and their families are connected to meaningful careers as civilians.”
Michelle Pabis, HonorHealth’s vice president of government and community affairs, said Arizona veterans and transitioning service members provide “unmatched discipline, expertise, and readiness” to Arizona’s healthcare workforce.
She noted this bill takes a “critical step forward” to help “military training and credentials align with civilian healthcare roles.”
According to Pabis, her company’s Military Partnership program has trained more than 1,700 medics in trauma readiness.
“By recognizing and integrating the skills of our service members, we not only strengthen our healthcare system but honor their service with meaningful career opportunities,” she said.
