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August signals the time when college students who are home for the summer begin making travel arrangements, packing, and scheduling classes. Don’t forget to add “keeping them enrolled in TRICARE Prime” to the to-do list.

Children remain eligible for TRICARE up to age 21. When enrolled in college full-time, they can continue to use TRICARE up to age 23 in most cases.

If the school is located in a TRICARE Prime Service Area (PSA) in the South Region, he or she can continue receiving TRICARE Prime benefits. Just follow the steps below to keep them enrolled:

1. Update the contact information in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS). You can do so in the following ways:
   - Visit the nearest local Uniformed Services personnel office
   - Call 1-800-538-9552
   - Fax changes to 1-831-655-8317
   - Mail changes to:
         Defense Manpower Data Center
         Support Office,
         Attn: COA
         400 Gigling Road
         Seaside, CA 93955-6771
   - Visit www.tricare.mil/DEERSAddress
2. Inform Humana Military of the student’s new contact information by calling 1-800-444-5445.
3. Select a new primary care manager (PCM) by filling out a TRICARE Prime Enrollment Application and PCM Change Form.

Split Enrollment
If your student attends school outside the TRICARE South Region, TRICARE Prime’s split enrollment feature allows you to enroll your college student(s) in one region while the rest of the family lives and is enrolled in the South Region. Humana Military will coordinate with the other regional contractor(s) regarding enrollment fees (if applicable) and send enrollment fee statements to the designated payer.

To designate split enrollment, complete and sign a TRICARE Prime Enrollment Application and PCM Change Form and send it to the regional contractor (Health Net Federal Services or TriWest Healthcare Alliance) in your son’s or daughter’s new region. The form should be sent to the new regional contractor no later than 30 days after the student arrives at college.

With split enrollment, TRICARE Prime coverage is continuous when the student travels between regions as long as
TRICARE Prime is available in both locations. Your college student should remain enrolled in their home region until he or she arrives in the new region, and coordinate any routine or urgent care that may arise while traveling to college through their current PCM.

Except for emergencies, your college student must receive care from his or her assigned PCM. A Uniformed Services ID card serves as proof of coverage, and the TRICARE Prime enrollment card should be shown at the time of care. PCM referrals are required when seeking care from a specialist or a provider other than a PCM to avoid TRICARE point-of-service (POS) charges.

TRICARE Standard
If the school is outside of a TRICARE PSA or if access to the TRICARE network is inconvenient, then TRICARE Standard may be the best option. With TRICARE Standard, your student can visit any TRICARE-authorized provider.

For more information about TRICARE Standard, contact Humana Military at 1-800-444-5445 or visit
www.humana-military.com

Relocating during a permanent change of station (PCS) means attending to many details arranging the move, securing new housing and getting the kids into new schools. One of the most important “to do’s” is making sure your medical coverage goes with you. TRICARE Prime is portable, so you can easily transfer your coverage to another TRICARE Prime Service Area in the same TRICARE region or in another region.

Behavioral health care benefits have the same portability as other TRICARE medical benefits. The following information explains the ins and outs of transitioning your behavioral health care.

To ensure continuity of care and coverage, be sure to:

• If possible, update your own and each family member’s Defense Enrollment
  Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) records before you move.
• Familiarize yourself with the new regional contractor if you are relocating to a new region.
• Enroll yourself and each family member at the new military treatment facility as soon as you arrive at your new duty station. Do not disenroll from your current region until you arrive at your new region to avoid a lapse in coverage. If you are staying in the same region, you must fill out a TRICARE Prime Enrollment Application and PCM Change Form only if you are changing your primary care manager (PCM) as a result of the move.

If You Need Care During the Transition
If you need behavioral health care while you are on your way to your new duty station, or anytime before you’ve changed your enrollment to your new location, ValueOptions, the behavioral health subcontractor for Humana Military Healthcare Services, Inc., (Humana Military) can assist you in obtaining care.

Emergency Care
As always, if you need emergency behavioral health care during your relocation, go to the nearest hospital emergency room or call 911. You should notify your PCM or ValueOptions within 24 hours following an emergency admission.

Urgent Care
Roxane Kissinger, director of customer service for ValueOptions, explains, “An example of urgent care is if a beneficiary has been placed on medication by their psychiatrist in the South Region and is now having problems with the medication and needs to have it adjusted during his or her transition to another region. The beneficiary would call ValueOptions, and we would help him or her locate a network provider at their new location.”

ValueOptions will then direct the beneficiary to:

• Call the new provider to ensure they are accepting new patients and then make an appointment.
• Once the beneficiary has the appointment, call ValueOptions with the date and time of the appointment so ValueOptions can issue an authorization for care. ValueOptions will also give the beneficiary the address where the provider should submit the claim for reimbursement.

Kissinger stresses that beneficiaries should always seek authorization for urgent behavioral health care prior to receiving services. Without prior authorization, payment may be denied.

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Last Reviewed:  December 4, 2007