Family Members

Specialty Care Referral Process Changes
On July 1st, the process for obtaining specialty referral appointments changed. Patients will no longer be required to make a phone call to “activate” the referral. There will be Health Care Finders (HCF) located in each of the outlying clinics and in WAMC, in the WFPRC appointment center, room B20748.

These Health Care Finders will book an appointment in WAMC specialty clinics when possible. If no appointments are available in WAMC, the patient will be informed that the referral will be forwarded to Health Net Federal Services (HFNS), our TRICARE Managed Care Support Contractor, and the patient will receive a letter from HNFS with information to book an appointment with a civilian provider for their specialty evaluation/treatment.

This system simply replaces the old Humana bridge contract with the local staff, and should prove to be much more patient friendly and simpler. There will be rare occasions when patients are unable to see the HCF before leaving the clinic, such as other appointments or other personal issues, as well as after hours referrals from ED, AMIC, and primary care clinics. Patients should be strongly encouraged, however, to visit the HCF before leaving the clinic during normal duty hours.

For that small number who can’t do this, they should call their primary care clinic at their earliest opportunity to book their specialty appointment.