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By Bernard S. Little
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
Walter Reed’s agreements and partnerships with other health care facilities throughout the region enhance services to beneficiaries while maintaining the readiness of its military providers in case they must deploy at a moment’s notice to any location around the globe.
Currently, Walter Reed has External Resource Sharing Agreements (ERSA) with three surgical sites, with a fourth being finalized in the coming weeks, according to U.S. Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Jennifer Sabino, Deputy Director for Surgical Services and staff surgeon for plastic and reconstructive surgery at the medical center.
“An ERSA allows Walter Reed surgeons to operate on beneficiaries at a Tricare network facility outside of the direct care system,” Sabino explained. “Our ERSAs are all for outpatient ambulatory surgery centers. These facilities do same-day procedures appropriate for patients to be discharged [the same day as the surgery].”
“Ideally, we would like to do all of our procedures at Walter Reed, but in our current situation, there are multiple advantages of using an ERSA,” Sabino added.
She explained that Walter Reed faced OR space and resource issues recently because of infrastructure challenges, which are active being resolved. “Using an ERSA gives extra OR capacity so that surgeons can decrease the impact on our ORs.” They function as a form of “pop-off” valve that helps Walter Reed manage the unexpected, such as large-scale deployments of personnel or facilities challenges.
“Patients are able to get more timely care with less of a need to get deferred to the network in the traditional sense,” Sabino continued. “The ERSAs also free up space and resources for cases that are not appropriate for an ambulatory surgery center; for example, if joint replacement cases are moved to the ERSA, an OR is available for a complex cancer case that requires postoperative admission.”
“Finally, ambulatory surgical centers, whether associated with a hospital or stand-alone, tend to operate more efficiently. Patients spend less time at the actual facility, and more cases can be performed in a day, again, allowing more timely care. From a surgeon’s perspective, more OR time and the ability to perform more cases lead to better outcomes and improved readiness. Residents are also included in this agreement, so there is a benefit to the graduate medical education (GME) mission,” Sabino added.
For the ERSAs, Tricare reimburses the facilities where MHS beneficiaries receive care from Walter Reed surgeons. The reimbursements include the costs of the procedures, including facility usage and supplies, Sabino explained. Patients pay only their usual Tricare co-payment. And again, some patients are seen sooner, and providers see more cases, enhancing their readiness.
In addition to ERSAs, Walter Reed has training affiliation agreements (TAAs) and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with other hospitals, which also enhance readiness and patient care.
“TAAs and MOUs allow military providers or trainees to practice at an outside hospital to gain exposure to patients and procedures that they might not see in sufficient volume at Walter Reed,” Sabino explained. “For example, we have an agreement with Shock Trauma in Baltimore to allow our trauma surgeons to work there to get regular acute/complex trauma experience. This is not an agreement with Tricare regarding reimbursement, but one between Walter Reed and Shock Trauma.”
The experience gained by Walter Reed military providers at Shock Trauma in Baltimore enhances their readiness because at any time, military medical doctors, surgeons, nurses, and medical technicians could be called to deploy to care for service members and/or others injured during combat or other operations anywhere around the globe.
| Date Taken: | 05.13.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.13.2025 14:48 |
| Story ID: | 497852 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 25 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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