Shortage of Primary Care providers at WPMC generates action Published June 20, 2008 By Derek Kaufman 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Air Force officials are responding to a shortage of primary care providers at Wright-Patterson Medical Center here. The Air Force is providing manning and contracting assistance to the 88th Medical Group to help resolve temporary Family Practice Clinic staffing problems caused by vacancies and deployments. This will fill the gap until long-term solutions can be identified to ensure adequate access to care for all enrolled beneficiaries. Provider authorizations at the medical center are stable, but filling them has been delayed by shortages in Primary Care physicians nationally. The 88th Medical Group is working closely with the Air Force Personnel Center to aggressively recruit active duty, civilian civil service and contract providers to alleviate the temporary shortage. The interim solution includes the ability for TRICARE Prime beneficiaries to consider voluntarily changing their primary care manager from a base provider to an affiliated network provider. This would be available to any of our beneficiaries, but may be an attractive alternative for any non-active duty beneficiaries who live more than 30 minutes from the base. "Inability of our patients to get the access they require may place some of our patient population at risk, which is unacceptable," said Col. Kimberly Slawinski, 88th Medical Group commander, who oversees all activities at the Air Force's third largest medical treatment facility. "We are absolutely committed to timely, quality care for our beneficiaries." Earlier this month, the medical group sent letters to about 3,400 TRICARE Prime beneficiaries who lived more than 30 minutes drive time to the base describing the challenge of the situation and inviting them to one of three town meetings to learn more about options that are available. The intent, Slawinski said was to focus on beneficiaries who faced the longest drive times to Wright-Patterson Medical Center to receive their primary care. "We are asking people to consider switching. No one will be required to change Primary Care providers involuntarily," Col. Slawinski said. "We are incredibly blessed to have a large network of civilian health care providers in the Dayton area who are very supportive of our mission." Wright-Patterson Medical Center is a large regional military medical treatment facility which provides active duty members, retirees, and eligible family members with a full range of services ranging from surgery to comprehensive cancer care. Col. James Cockerill, 88th Medical Operations Squadron Commander, said the base shortage affects primary care and internal medicine clinics only. Pediatrics, Flight Medicine, OB-GYN, Laboratory, Radiology, Pharmacy and specialty clinics remain fully staffed for service. "Anyone with questions can walk in and talk to a representative at the Wright-Patterson Medical Center's TRICARE Service Center. Our customer service people are very responsive to patient questions. Alternatively you can call the central TRICARE Sevice Center toll-free number, (877) 874-2273, to learn about options and to locate a network provider close to home," Col. Cockerill said. It's also possible to learn about and make changes online through the regional TRICARE contractor, HealthNet Web site at www.healthnetfederalservices.com.