BUMED operates hospitals and other healthcare facilities as well as laboratories for biomedical research, and trains and manages the Navy's many staff corps related to medicine.

[8] Navy Medicine National Capital Area's largest component, the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, was merged in 2011 with Walter Reed Army Medical Center to form the joint Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

The merged facility came under the jurisdiction of the new Joint Task Force National Capital Region/Medical, and in 2013, Navy Medicine National Capital Area was disestablished, with its few remaining facilities transferred to Navy Medicine East.

[10] All three military medical commands were, however, all moved to share the new Defense Health Headquarters facility in Falls Church with DHA, again as a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure.

[4] The commanding officer of BUMED is the Surgeon General of the United States Navy, a Vice Admiral.