TRICARE Prime enrollees and TRICARE Plus beneficiaries Face Changes Published Dec. 8, 2010 By Louise Cooper Joint Task Force Capital Medical NCR Joint Base Andrews -- About 39,000 TRICARE Prime enrollees and TRICARE Plus beneficiaries at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and the National Naval Medical Center Bethesda, Md., will receive letters this week informing them of their projected enrollment site where they will receive primary care after the integration of four hospitals into two by Sept, 15, 2011. The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission consolidated the inpatient services of four Military Treatment Facilities into two by establishing the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, on the campus of the National Naval Medical Center Bethesda, Md., and the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, at Fort Belvoir, Va. It also relocated existing functions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, District of Columbia, to those two facilities and established the Malcolm Grow Medical Center at Andrews Air Force Base as an ambulatory surgical center. The DeWitt Army Community Hospital is expanding its services to become the FBCH. Every effort will be made to accommodate patient preference for Primary Care Manager and Military Treatment Facility selection. The letters will include a return reply, postage paid postcard asking recipients to respond to the projected primary care site. Each patient has 60 days to respond. Regardless of where beneficiaries receive primary care, they will be able to receive specialty care at WRNMMC and/or FBCH. All specialty care currently available within the National Capital Region will also be available after September 2011. Communication about enrollment options will continue until September 2011. As with current Primary Care Manager notifications, the PCM/location change letter will be distributed within 90 days of the effective date and be sent by the TRICARE managed care support contractor, Health Net Federal Services. TRICARE Prime enrollees are guaranteed certain access standards for healthcare. Standards include that travel time may not exceed 30 minutes between residence and a primary care delivery site, unless a longer time is necessary due to the absence of providers in the area. For more information visit the TRICARE website at: www.tricare.mil/mybenefit/home or call 1-877-TRICARE (1-877-874-2273). Trained, professional staffers are available to answer your questions.