Tricare: Mental health - Getting out, military health issues - Navy Times

Tricare: Mental health

Each of the services has psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, psychologists and social workers to help those with mental health and emotional issues. Therapy programs at military installations range from individual, marriage and group counseling to Al-Anon for relatives of alcoholics. Tricare beneficiaries also are eligible for civilian outpatient mental health treatment. Standard and Prime patients may receive up to eight visits of outpatient mental health care without authorization. Prime patients must use network providers.

The Tricare Management Activity is running a pilot program to provide specific training and education on post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries to civilian behavioral health providers. The online training is designed to educate civilian primary care and mental health professionals on combat care related to military experiences.

Professionals whose services are covered by Tricare include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric and clinical social workers, certified marriage and family therapists and approved mental health counselors. But the mental health provider must be authorized under Tricare, or services will not be covered.

Inpatient mental health treatment in a civilian facility must be pre-authorized by a Tricare regional managed care support contractor, except in an emergency where authorization should be obtained upon admission. Military hospitals normally do not provide inpatient psychiatric care for family members, although they may in an emergency.

Tricare for Life beneficiaries should follow Medicare and Tricare procedures when seeking mental health services — follow Medicare first and Tricare second.

Tricare patients who need intensive mental health care but not 24-hour hospitalization are eligible for psychological partial hospitalization at participating facilities; they are treated in the hospital during the day, but go home at night.

Tricare has a Behavioral Health Provider Locator and Appointment Assistance Service center for active-duty members and families enrolled in Prime or Prime Remote, and Tricare Overseas Prime enrollees temporarily in the U.S.

Contact: West Region, (866) 651-4970; North Region, (877) 747-9579; and South Region, (877) 298-3514. More information on Tricare’s mental health benefits is at http://tricare.mil/mybenefit/ home/MentalHealthAndBehavior.

Afterdeployment.org

Tricare offers a relatively new free resource for service members returning from deployment and their families. The site provides strategy and educational materials that address combat stress and triggers; conflict at work; reconnecting with family and friends; depression, anger and sleep problems; substance abuse; stress management; kids and deployment; spiritual guidance; living with physical injuries; and health and wellness.

Contact: www.afterdeployment.org

Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury

This 24-hour outreach center provides information and referrals to service members, veterans, their families and others with questions about mental health and TBI. Center staff are available around the clock, 365 days a year, to deal with everything from routine requests for information to questions about symptoms a caller may be experiencing, to helping people find appropriate health care resources.

Contact: (866) 966-1020; www.dcoe .health.mil; e-mail: resources@dcoe outreach.org

inTransition

In February 2010, the Defense Department launched a new program called inTransition to offer service members receiving mental health treatment a bridge of support between health care providers when they transfer to a new location or separate from service.

Once contact is made, the service member is assigned a “transition support coach” — licensed behavioral health clinicians specially trained in understanding today’s military culture. They can offer detailed information on how to successfully change care providers, assist with referrals and follow up with new providers, provide crisis intervention and supply other information on local resources. They also can help service members transition their mental health care from the military system to the VA health care system.

Contact: www.health.mil/intransition; (800) 424-7877 (in the U.S.); (800) 424-4685 (outside the U.S.); individuals outside the U.S. also may call collect (314) 387-4700.