NM1 - Open Forum

Hi Friends,

From UCAOA:

The Urgent Care Association of America (UCAOA) is encouraging its members to contact their members of Congress to ask support for legislative language in the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would ease access to urgent care center services for military families.

There is currently language in the House and Senate NDAA bills that would eliminate the TRICARE pre-authorization requirements for military families seeking urgent care services (Section 704 in the House bill; Section 701 of the Senate bill). UCAOA recently sent a letter to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees expressing strong support for this legislative language.

In its letter, UCAOA expressed some concern with the language in the House NDAA that suggests that TRICARE would be limited to contracting with urgent care centers that are open until 11pm daily. UCAOA stated its preference of the Senate-passed language that does not include the same hours of operation limitation and instead offered that urgent care centers should just be required to offer extended hours.

It is expected the NDAA bill will be passed in the “lame duck” session of Congress following the elections. If retained and signed into law by President Obama, this language would remove a large hurdle for military families attempting to access the convenient and cost-effective quality care provided by urgent care centers across the nation. 

Message to Lawmakers:

Improve access to urgent care centers for TRICARE beneficiaries. Retain language in the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act that would waive prior authorization requirements for urgent care visits (Sec. 704 House bill; Sec. 701 Senate bill).

Contacting Members of Congress:

House:  Go to www.House.gov to locate your representative and navigate to his/her home page. Most member webpages allow you to send an email through the “Contact” button.

Senate:  Go to www.Senate.gov. Email contact information is available on the Senate directory page. 

------------------------------
Neil Moynahan
Solutions Advisor
Higher Logic
Arlington VA
(703) 297-7437
------------------------------

Original Message------

Hi Friends,

From UCAOA:

The Urgent Care Association of America (UCAOA) is encouraging its members to contact their members of Congress to ask support for legislative language in the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would ease access to urgent care center services for military families.

There is currently language in the House and Senate NDAA bills that would eliminate the TRICARE pre-authorization requirements for military families seeking urgent care services (Section 704 in the House bill; Section 701 of the Senate bill). UCAOA recently sent a letter to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees expressing strong support for this legislative language.

In its letter, UCAOA expressed some concern with the language in the House NDAA that suggests that TRICARE would be limited to contracting with urgent care centers that are open until 11pm daily. UCAOA stated its preference of the Senate-passed language that does not include the same hours of operation limitation and instead offered that urgent care centers should just be required to offer extended hours.

It is expected the NDAA bill will be passed in the “lame duck” session of Congress following the elections. If retained and signed into law by President Obama, this language would remove a large hurdle for military families attempting to access the convenient and cost-effective quality care provided by urgent care centers across the nation. 

Message to Lawmakers:

Improve access to urgent care centers for TRICARE beneficiaries. Retain language in the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act that would waive prior authorization requirements for urgent care visits (Sec. 704 House bill; Sec. 701 Senate bill).

Contacting Members of Congress:

House:  Go to www.House.gov to locate your representative and navigate to his/her home page. Most member webpages allow you to send an email through the “Contact” button.

Senate:  Go to www.Senate.gov. Email contact information is available on the Senate directory page. 

------------------------------
Neil Moynahan
Solutions Advisor
Higher Logic
Arlington VA
(703) 297-7437
------------------------------