alexanders,"At a recent TB conference there was some discussion...

alexanders,

"At a recent TB conference there was some discussion that to soften the big increase in price of testing when moving from TST to QFT "

Once again this is another example of the false assumption held in some quarters regarding the question of cost. Certainly the cost of the actual QFT test packet is greater than the cost of the actual TST serum. However many studies have now been published showing that the overall cost of QFT testing is actually less than the actual cost of TST testing.
Proper cost accounting taking into account the loss of productive time by the individual being tested and the medical personnel involved by the two step TST method (3 steps if QFT is only used as a confirmatory test) has shown in many studies that QFT overall is cheaper. This is particularly so taking into account the cost of drugs needlessly required for false positive TST results when TST testing alone is used.

Many organisations in the US have changed to using QFT exclusively. New York Department of Health is but one, the list now is quite extensive and is steadily growing as more and more people realise the cost and logistical advantages of QFT.
With the US armed forces there still appears debate in some quarters however the additional ability to have QFT results fully automated direct from the lab to a servicemans records would appear to an overwhelming advantage for using QFT.
As to the timing, who knows? The administrative heirachy in the US armed forces, even just the medical side, involves a huge number of bods, in the paper warfare involved many of these would need to sign off on the decision. Add that to the rivalry between the different arms of the services and you have an indefinite timeline.