Defense Health Agency officials have launched an effort to bring back Medicare-eligible Tricare for Life military patients to their treatment facilities, the Pentagon\u2019s top doctor said this week. <\/p>\n
They are prioritizing bringing back these retirees and their dependents back to 21 military treatment facilities<\/a>, Dr. Stephen Ferrara, acting assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, told a Military Officers Association of America conference Oct. 28.<\/p>\n \u201cThose are the folks we really want. We love to have our seniors at MTFs,\u201d Ferrara said. <\/p>\n They\u2019ve chosen the 21 locations, based on the specialists available and the capability of the facilities, he said. The locations are reportedly larger, major military medical centers. Defense Health Agency officials would not answer a Military Times question about the specific locations, saying they cannot provide any information until the government shutdown ends \u201cbecause it\u2019s not an excepted topic.\u201d <\/p>\n In various roles over the last 30-plus years, including 25 years as an active duty Navy surgeon, Ferrara said, he has watched the \u201cwhipsawing back and forth\u201d of these patients, in terms of their ability to get care at MTFs or being forced out into the private sector to get their health care. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating for the patients,\u201d he said, and as a surgeon, \u201cthose are the patients I want to see\u201d because older patients have more complex and advanced conditions. <\/p>\n Those MTFs are platforms where medical providers sharpen their skills as they take care of a wide variety of patients, he said, and it is a key element of readiness. <\/p>\n \u201cI focus on readiness, because that\u2019s what I owe the secretary,\u201d Ferrara said, adding that one way of achieving that is by having \u201chigh-volume, high-complexity, busy MTFs.\u201d <\/p>\n Defense Health Agency officials could not provide information about whether this effort is related to last year\u2019s directive from former Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, ordering sweeping changes<\/a> to boost staffing at military medical facilities, increase access to care for benefits and attract more patients back to MTFs. <\/p>\n