Health Care 152 • Watch for notifications from TriWest and act promptly to avoid disruption in your benefits • Set up automatic, recurring credit card or electronic funds transfer TRICARE payments with TriWest • Keep your payment information safe; TriWest cannot transfer your existing RCC or EFT payment plan data from the outgoing contractor; you must sign up for recurring payments with TriWest for payments starting Jan. 1, 2025 • Do nothing if you use military allotment payments; allotments will automatically transfer to TriWest in January 2025 For more details on preparing for these changes, you may visit Tricare.mil/About/Regions/West-Region and Tricare.mil/About/Changes. You can also visit TRICARE Subscriptions and sign up for email alerts at public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USMHSTMA/subscriber/new. T-5 BENEFITS Built into the new T-5 contract is an ongoing commitment to improving access to and quality of health care services. T-5 IS DESIGNED TO: • Supplement existing Military Treatment Facility resources with contracted networks of U.S. health care providers to achieve an “integrated health care delivery system” • Establish and maintain a robust provider network in the community • Allow TriWest Healthcare Alliance to perform tasks under a variety of categories, including claims processing, management of enrollment, health care finder and referral services, customer service, medical management and clinical quality • Improve the delivery, quality and cost of health care services for servicemembers, retirees and their families The regional contractors will do this in a variety of ways, including: • Supporting innovation and health care industry best practices • Creating efficient ways to reduce health care costs • Providing a foundation for future health care demonstrations and pilots • Improving how military hospitals and clinics and civilian care can work together to enhance patients’ health care experience OTHER TRICARE ENHANCEMENTS PHARMACY • Since Oct. 24, 2022, some 15,000 independent pharmacies departed the TRICARE retail pharmacy network. More than 90 percent of beneficiaries still have at least one network pharmacy within 15 minutes of their home. These include chain pharmacies, independent neighborhood pharmacies, grocery stores and wholesale warehouse stores. Among those remaining are pharmacies at Longs Drugs and Safeway. If you decide to kick the habit, TRICARE covers products and services to help you become tobacco-free. To learn more, find details at Tricare.mil/Publications/FactSheets/tobacco_cessation. Also check the Department of Defense You Can Quit 2 program at ycq2.org that offers coaching, online tools and in-person support locators to help you quit tobacco. You can also call your local military hospital or clinic at Tricare.mil/mtf to see if it offers tobacco cessation programs. SPECIALTY PRESCRIPTIONS Effective March 1, 2024, those filling specialty drugs through TRICARE Home Delivery will begin to receive expanded specialty pharmacy services from Accredo Health Group (Accredo.com/dodspecialty) as part of the Express Scripts, Inc (ESI) contracted TRICARE network. For new prescriptions with Accredo, you have two options: • Ask your doctor to send your prescription electronically to Accredo. Once your prescription is ready, a patient care advocate will call you to set up your patient profile and schedule delivery of your medication. • Call Accredo at (877) 882-3324. A patient care advocate will work with you and your doctor to get a new prescription sent to Accredo. For current prescriptions, you have two options:
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