Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Navy Medicine Health Care Headlines
Archives	9/13/2004
This is the 60th edition of Navy Medicine, Health Care Headlines. Listed below are important health issues or concerns from the Department of the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery for the week of Monday, September 13, 2004. Please take the time to review this important information and then share it within your command. DoD Announces Completion of TRICARE North Region The Department of Defense (DoD) announced that on Sept. 1, 2004, eligible military healthcare plan beneficiaries in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Northern Virginia transition to the TRICARE Northern Region. This transition completes the new North Region that began June 1 with the states of Illinois, Indiana, portions of Iowa (Rock Island Arsenal area), Kentucky, Michigan, portions of Missouri (St. Louis area), North Carolina, Ohio, portions of Tennessee (Ft. Campbell area), southern Virginia, western West Virginia and Wisconsin. For more information please see the above link: TRICARE Regional Contractors For the United States (Fact Sheet Updated September 7, 2004) TRICARE is currently transitioning from 12 regions and 7 contractors to 3 regions and 3 contractors to better meet the health care needs of TRICARE beneficiaries. The new contracts will be phased in from June through November 2004. Each of the three TRICARE regions in the United States has a regional contractor that helps coordinate the services available at military treatment facilities and those offered by a network of civilian hospitals and providers. The regional contractors are responsible for a variety of functions. For more information please see the above link: Beneficiaries Can Use These Tips To Ease TRICARE Transition Challenges While the transition to the new TRICARE contracts will make a strong program better and ultimately result in higher patient satisfaction, some beneficiaries may experience occasional transition challenges such as long wait times when calling their new regional contractors. Some tips for assessing TRICARE information include conducting business online whenever possible, calling during non-peak hours, and visiting TRICARE Service Centers for face-to-face assistance. Each regional contractor has made conducting business online easy and fast. Beneficiaries may enroll or change enrollment information online, search for providers in their local area, and find a wealth of information on the health plan as well as links to other key sites for information on claims processing and online appointments. For more information please see the above link: College Students and TRICARE (Fact Sheet Revised August 26, 2004) As parents are preparing or have recently entered their college-age students for a new school year, TRICARE coverage decisions and possible enrollment changes become an important part of this preparation process. Typically, TRICARE covers eligible students until age 21 unless the student is enrolled full-time (validation of student status required) at an accredited college and the sponsor provides more than 50 percent of the student’s financial support. A full-time student’s eligibility ends at age 23, or when the full-time student status ends, whichever comes first. During these college years, parents should research which TRICARE option, Prime, Extra or Standard, may be best for their son or daughter. For more information please see the above link: TRICARE FOR Life and Medicare Part B (Information was Updated September 1, 2004) Certain Uniformed Services Beneficiaries Entitled to Medicare will soon receive important mailings. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) has a provision that directly impacts certain Medicare-TRICARE dual-eligible beneficiaries. It eliminates the Medicare Part B surcharge for uniformed services beneficiaries who were subject to a higher premium (currently paying more than $66.60 a month) for enrolling in Part B during the years 2001 to 2004. Under the MMA, Medicare Part B premiums will be reduced for these beneficiaries to the regular monthly premium rate and beneficiaries will be reimbursed for any surcharges paid in 2004. These refunds will be provided in Social Security retirement checks. In mid-September, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will send a statement that clearly explains these changes. For more information please see the above link: NOTE: If you have any questions or comments, contact NavyHealthCareHeadlines@us.med.navy.mil 9/13/2004