Retirees facing long waits for medical visits

[unhappycamper]

Retirees facing long waits for medical visits
By Franklin Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, December 3, 2007

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — About two months into a change in the way the Osan Air Base hospital schedules appointments, some retirees say they may face much longer waits than before.

Under the change, made Oct. 1, retirees and others covered by the Tricare Standard medical plan can be given a space-available appointment only if one is open within 48 hours from the time they ask. If not, they have to keep calling until such an opening occurs.

Previously, for a routine appointment, they could be given a space-available slot even if it were weeks away.

Hospital officials changed that policy in an effort to ensure that active-duty servicemembers and others covered by Tricare Prime get the appointments they need as quickly as possible, said Lt. Col. Stephen M. Mounts, commander of Osan’s 51st Medical Support Squadron.

The change was part of an overall move to improve the appointment system, one that also has included hiring a second appointments clerk, Mounts said.

The new 48-hour rule at Osan is posing difficulties for some retirees, said Jack Terwiel, Army Retirement Services Officer for South Korea.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50685