The primary mission of the Columbus AFB Clinic is to provide peacetime healthcare to active duty personnel and ensure they are ready for wartime deployments. Active duty members are the first priority of medical services. They are entitled to receive complete treatment. Our base clinic offers clinical services in primary care/family practice, minor surgery, counseling services, and optometry. Air Force people on flying status are seen in the flight medicine clinic.
TRICARE Prime enrollees are the second priority. All other beneficiaries will be treated on a space available basis.
Upon reporting to their new duty station, active duty personnel will report to the TRICARE Service Center to enroll for TRICARE Prime. If family members desire to enroll in TRICARE Prime, they must fill out an application at the TRICARE Service Center.
The clinic is open from 7:30 am - 4:30 pm Monday through, Friday; Thursday from 7:30 am - 12:00 pm, unless otherwise indicated. Most medical appointments are made through central appointments. Acute appointments are available for medical problems arising within the past 48 hours. Non-flying personnel telephone (662 434-CARE) for an appointment. Sick call for flyers only is conducted from 7:30-8:45 a.m. and from 1:00-1:30 p.m. weekdays.
The Clinic is an ambulatory care facility and DOES NOT have an emergency room. Life threatening conditions are stabilized for transport to local hospitals.
For authorization for medical care during duty hours, call 662 434-CARE; outside of duty hours, call 662-434- - the answering service is tasked to contact on-call providers when needed. TRICARE Enrollees who are enrolled in another area must call the region in which they are enrolled for authorizations outside of their region.
The base clinic's support services include radiology, laboratory, pharmacy, physical therapy, immunizations, nutritional medicine, health promotions, and public health. After-hours emergency care is provided by Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle (BMH-GT) in Columbus. Off-base, there one main medical care system - Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle. It offers a full range of medical services - hospital, clinics, therapy and more. TRICARE referrals are generally made to Baptist.
The Dental Clinic serves the active-duty population. Eligible family members are referred off-base. There are many dentists who accept TRICARE Family Member Dental Plan, a list is available from the Dental Clinic.
Local civilian consultants and health care providers at Keesler Air Force Base, MS, and Maxwell Air Force Base, AL, supplement the professional staff as needed. Except for limited prenatal evaluations, obstetrics patients are referred to local hospitals which feature modern labor-delivery-recovery suites and neonatal intensive care units.
Services for dependents and retirees that are not available through the base clinic are often covered by TRICARE, the Civilian Health and Medical Program.