Officers of the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service are deployed under a variety of circumstances based on the severity of a public health need or threat as well as its scope. The Response Service Award (RSA) is awarded to recognize those officers who directly participated in a Corps deployment in response to a designated public health need or in case of National Special Security Event (NSSE). Examples of NSSEs include Republican and Democratic National Conventions and presidential inaugurations, Super Bowls, and global economic summits. Only officers who meet the force readiness standards outlined in Public Health Service Manual Circular No. 377 are eligible for the decoration.
To qualify for the award, an officer of the USPHA Commissioned Corps must participate in a Corps deployment that falls into one of three categories: An all-hazards public health emergency (as declared by the President or the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, or “Secretary”), an urgent public health need determined by the Secretary or the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health (ASH), or an NEES.
Additionally, the deployment must not be designated one that would qualify the officer for the Crisis Response Service Award or the Global Response Service Award, and it must be designated by the Secretary, ASH, or the Surgeon General as a deployment on a scale that qualifies for the RSA. Officers who take part in a response on an ad hoc basis will not necessarily earn the award since one of the requirements is that they deploy in the designated PHS uniforms, although the Surgeon General may exempt this stipulation based on circumstances.
Participating officers must spend have been deployed at least seven days to qualify for the RSA, and they may receive only one RSA for their participation in a deployment regardless of how long they spent deployed in that particular response effort.