Photo By Maria Christina Yager | Col. Vincent B. Myers, commander of Blanchfield Army Community Hospital and director...... read more read more
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - More than 100,000 military and civilian TRICARE eligible beneficiaries living on and around Fort Campbell will transition to the Department of Defense’s new electronic health record platform, MHS GENESIS, on June 3.
TRICARE is the DOD’s health care program for service members, military retirees, and their families, which accounts for a large portion of the local population in communities near the Army installation.
The initial launch phase in the Defense Health Agency’s Southwest Kentucky Market, which includes Fort Campbell, requires a temporary reduction in available primary and specialty care appointments at Blanchfield and its outlying services including Screaming Eagle Medical Home, Byrd Family Medical Home, and Byrd and LaPointe Soldier Medical Homes. This phase will also bring increased wait times in pharmacy, lab, and radiology services through July.
“The first few weeks will take some extra administrative time as we get patients in and use the new health record system. Once the main month of transition is complete in June, we’ll have to work through the backlog in July, and, by August, anticipate a return to normalcy,” said Maj. Mark Workman, the chief of Blanchfield Army Community Hospital’s Clinical Support Division, who has been part of a team leading local MHS GENESIS transition preparation efforts for the past 12 months.
Although appointments will be reduced, beneficiaries within the Southwest Kentucky Market will continue to receive medical care.
“Rest assured our market will continue to support health care in our community throughout this transition timeframe,” Col. Vincent B. Myers, commander of Blanchfield Army Community Hospital and director of the Defense Health Agency’s Southwest Kentucky Market, said during a virtual Town Hall to discuss the transition.
“If our team is not able to support your medical needs in a timely manner, our in-network partners stand ready to support our population as we need to temporarily reduce available appointments prior to, during, and after our MHS GENESIS Go-Live launch on June 3.
"We want to thank our network partners for their continued support to assist us–military service members, retirees, and their families during this adjustment period,” Myers said
TRICARE enrolled retirees and family members assigned to Blanchfield who are unable to get a timely appointment for urgent care at the hospital during the transition may receive care at an approved TRICARE off-post urgent care center without a referral. Beneficiaries may find a TRICARE approved urgent care facility at https://www.goperspecta.com/VPD/HumanaMilitary/public/ProviderSearch/Main.
Active-duty service members require pre-authorization before visiting an urgent care center and should check with their unit provider or call the TRICARE Nurse Advice Line at 1-800-TRICARE (874-2273) before an urgent care visit.
Urgent medical conditions are those that are not considered an emergency, but still require care within 24 hours, such as urinary tract infections, skin rashes, vomiting, diarrhea, fevers, and strains and sprains.
Although the hospital began hands-on training on the new system in March, once MHS GENESIS goes live June 3, staff will still need time to adjust to new workflows as they implement their training on the electronic health record system in real time, resulting in a temporary reduction of patient appointments and increased wait times.
“This is a historic system change for us and the Department of Defense. We’re actually one of the last platforms that’s changing over, which is good for us because there are a lot of lessons learned out there that we’ve been able to implement,” said Myers.
The Defense Health Agency has been methodically transitioning beneficiaries worldwide to MHS GENESIS over the past few years in “waves” based on geographical location, or “market”. The new system provides enhanced, secure technology to manage health information and will provide a single health record for service members, veterans, and their families.
TRICARE Online Patient Portal
Online patient-to-provider communication and appointment booking at Blanchfield through the current TRICARE Online Patient Portal will be phased out on May 26 as the hospital transitions to the MHS GENESIS Patient Portal. The new portal is an enhanced secure system that will provide BACH enrolled beneficiaries access to their current medical record, request appointments, communicate with their care team, review clinic notes and lab results.
TRICARE beneficiaries can access the MHS GENESIS Patient Portal now via Common Access Card or DS Log-on, which provides access to a number of other DOD sites with one log-on. Beneficiaries without a DS Log-on can get one at https://myaccess.dmdc.osd.mil.
Once MHS GENESIS deploys worldwide at all military hospitals and clinics, beneficiaries will be able to access their health records from any military hospital or clinic from anywhere, at any time. Local TRICARE beneficiaries may already securely view some of their health information in the MHS GENESIS Patient Portal but may not see all of their health records until the area is fully transitioned.
The DHA’s Southwest Kentucky Market includes Blanchfield Army Community Hospital; all medical and dental services at Fort Campbell; Screaming Eagle Medical Home in Clarksville, Tennessee; Woodson Health Clinic, Rock Island, Illinois; and medical support services at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin.
To view the town hall, visit the Blanchfield Army Community Facebook Page at https://www.Facebook.com/BACH.Fort.Campbell or via YouTube at https://www.youtube.com@BACHPAO
For more information about MHS GENESIS, please visit https://health.mil/MHSGENESIS.
| Date Taken: | 05.26.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.26.2023 11:44 |
| Story ID: | 445652 |
| Location: | FORT CAMPBELL, KY, US |
| Web Views: | 1,707 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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