AAFP to TRICARE: 'Address Our Concerns'

The Academy has held up its end of a bargain made last year with TRICARE, the U.S. military health plan, and AAFP leaders now are asking TRICARE to do the same.

Some background: In November, at the request of Maj. Gen. Elder Granger, deputy director of TRICARE management activity, AAFP Board Chair Larry Fields, M.D., of Flatwoods, Ky., asked all AAFP members who hadn't yet done so to consider participating as TRICARE physicians.

In the Nov. 17 story in AAFP News Now, Fields said, "I am calling on our members to make a sacrifice for the troops." He acknowledged that TRICARE had not been "physician-friendly" and cited low payment rates, inappropriate bundling of services and a cumbersome referral process as some of the reasons FPs historically have been reluctant to sign on.

Fast forward to a March 14 follow-up letter to TRICARE, in which Fields reminded Granger that the Academy also wanted some attention devoted to its concerns.

"Having kept our commitment, we are now writing to ask what you are doing to address the concerns that we raised," said Fields. "We hope that you have taken some action to tackle these issues in the intervening five months, and we would appreciate knowing what that action is."

Fields once again told Granger that the Academy is willing to work with TRICARE on finding a solution to the problem of access to care for military families. He again offered the Academy's services in a joint survey of AAFP members "to elicit more statistically significant data regarding why family physicians are not participating in TRICARE."

Fields added, "Once the access and other issues related to TRICARE are addressed, we can hopefully work together on meaningful payment reform more broadly. At that point, we both can be confident that we have done our best during this time to support the individuals who are serving this nation in the armed forces, as well as their families."