The 377th Medical Group provides medical care to Department of
Defense (DoD) beneficiaries and it is part of a joint venture with the
Albuquerque Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Together, they are known as the New
Mexico Regional Federal Medical Center. This joint venture provides
many services of a major medical center. If you should need any of
these services, your healthcare provider will initiate the process to obtain
it.
All services are located in the Air Force outpatient facility next to
the VA Medical Center, except for the following: Life Skills Support Center
(Mental Health) is located in Bldg. #3 in the VA Complex and the Satellite
Pharmacy is located on Kirtland East next to the commissary.
Medical care
services are offered on a priority basis. First priority of care is to active
duty military. Second priority is to family members of active duty, with retired
military and family members of retired military following in the eligibility
train. Dental care services are available to active duty military only. Only
emergency dental care is offered to other eligible individuals. When services
are unavailable, those eligible for medical/dental care are referred to TRICARE.
There are numerous hospitals located off-base. Please see the Community section
under Health & Wellness.
TRICARE offers eligible beneficiaries three
choices:
TRICARE Standard: an indemnity health care plan
without an annual enrollment fee. TRICARE Standard is the same as
CHAMPUS.
TRICARE Extra: you receive a discount on charges for
using a provider listed in the TRICARE Provider Directory. No annual
premium or enrollment is required. TRICARE Extra is similar to a
civilian health plan referred to as a Preferred Provider Organization or
PPO. Just as with TRICARE Standard, deductibles will apply, but the
cost share is 50% less.
TRICARE Prime: a managed health care
plan that provides care through the military treatment facility and a network of
civilian providers. Because this type of plan stresses the importance
of health education and wellness programs, this option is sometimes referred to
as a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). For further assistance please
contact the TRICARE Office.
DEFENSE ENROLLMENT ELIGIBILITY REPORTING
SYSTEM (DEERS) - is a worldwide data base of military families, retirees and
others covered by CHAMPUS. The Defense Department uses DEERS to check
who is eligible for CHAMPUS benefits. Congress directed that the
system be developed to make it easier to plan and distribute resources and to
prevent illegal use of military benefits. The DEERS system helps
service families by protecting the health benefit for those who are actually
entitled to care.
In the United States, all service families should
already be enrolled in DEERS. Active duty and retired personnel are
automatically enrolled, but their family members must be registered by their
sponsor to make sure they are correctly entered into the system. Even
though CHAMPUS and the services frequently remind people to keep their DEERS
information up-to-date, family members may not realize that they need to be
properly enrolled before their claims will be paid. Eligible family
members of reservists and National Guard members who are activated for 30 days
or more are considered on active duty, and their parent command should assist
with DEERS enrollment.
Family members who are not enrolled, or who are
not sure about it, should contact a military personnel
office. Military sponsors and family members must report any changes
in status (discharge, births, divorce) or location to the nearest personnel
office of any uniformed service immediately, to avoid claims problems.