The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) will establish a world-class health care community built around a new joint tertiary medical center and command.

The establishment of the WRNMMC on the campus of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., was mandated under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC), which recommended the realignment of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, including the relocation of all tertiary medical services to NNMC, and the renaming of NNMC as the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. BRAC law requires all services to be relocated by Sept. 15, 2011.

ìWe greatly value our relationship with our community neighbors and consider our campus to be an integral part of the landscape,î the Navy base at Bethesda commander Rear Adm. Richard Jeffries said. ìMontgomery County and the Bethesda community embrace us as one of their own and we try very hard to be proud and respectful neighbors.î

The final EIS is expected to be completed in April and the ROD will follow in May. Construction, therefore, will start in late May or early June.

The WRNMMC is conceptualized to be an approximately 345-bed medical center with the full range of intensive and complex specialty, and subspecialty medical services, including specialized facilities for the most seriously war injured. WRNMMC will become the U.S. militaryís premier tertiary referral center for casualty and beneficiary care, provide postgraduate level education and other training, and serve as a critical medical research center.

ìWe received approximately 1,200 comments which indicates the public is engaged and has a sincere interest in seeing that we continue to meet our mission of providing world-class medical care for our nationís most deserving,î Jeffries said.