Appointment System in TRICARE Mid-Atlantic Region.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the implementation of a new TRICARE Mid-Atlantic TMAR region-wide appointment system to meet the militarys managed care health plan TRICARE access standards and to meet the Managed Care Support Contract MCSC requirements. Issues concerning access to health care under TRICARE including primary care referral options, Military Treatment Facilities MTF specialty care availability, and the simplification of the appointment process are discussed. This papers focus is to discuss TMARs challenges and solutions for simplifying appointment types. Included are an analysis of the simplified appointment types test site and a synopsis of recommendations for meeting TRICARE Prime access standards. It presents three key strategies that emerged concerning access in the military managed care environment.