Policies require enrollment in MTF, improve mission readiness

  • Published
  • 17th Medical Support Squadron
GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Two policies at the 17th Medical Group were instituted to meet requirements from Air Force Medical Service and TRICARE as part of patient treatment procedures.

New guidelines include all newborns automatically enrolled into Goodfellow's medical treatment facility after their first-month appointment with the attending physician and requiring all beneficiaries to be seen at MTFs if availability exists.  

Correspondence in 2013, from Lt. Gen. Tom Travis, Air Force surgeon general, stated the "main purpose of the Air Force Medical Service is to make sure that we are prepared for current and future readiness missions."

To ensure medical providers in the Air Force can accomplish this, they need to see as many patients as possible. The surgeon general encouraged all military treatment facilities to recapture patients to the clinic that are unnecessarily seen by off base providers.

"At the 17th MDG, each primary care provider has an available capacity of 1,250 patients," said 1st Lt. Matthew Steele, 17th Medical Support Squadron TRICARE Operations and Patient Administration flight commander. "This number was established by the AFMS as being optimal for providing care to as many patients as possible without overloading the providers themselves.  It serves the dual purpose of allowing each provider to see a variety of different types of patients and maintain their currency and knowledge."

The 17th MDG pediatrician has the same empanelment of 1,250 children.

"In order to maintain their currency, they need to see as many patients as possible with varying ages and medical conditions," Steele said.

Air Force policy requires TRICARE PRIME beneficiaries desiring to be seen downtown to submit a waiver request for approval to the MTF. 

"Typically, these requests are only approved for medical necessity when the MTF does not have the ability to treat a patient with special needs, or in some cases, for continuity of care," he said.

Patients currently granted a waiver to a civilian pediatrician will not be actively pursued or returned to the MTF.  However, when the civilian pediatrician retires or leaves the local area, patients are re-enrolled to the MTF, and if there is a desire to return downtown, another waiver request will have to be submitted to TRICARE and approved by the MTF.  Automatic renewal of the waiver will not be given.


"Our goal is to provide the best possible care to our beneficiaries while remaining prepared for readiness and mission needs," Steele said. "These policies allow us to do this, but we understand some patients would desire greater flexibility. For patients who desire more options, we encourage them to call 1-800-TRICARE, or visit www.tricare.mil to receive information about additional available insurance programs such as TRICARE Standard."

For questions or concerns regarding these or any other patient policies call at 325-654-3088.