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On Sept. 1, 2005, TRICARE’s Extended Care Health Option (ECHO) replaced the TRICARE Program for Persons with Disabilities (PFPWD). The new ECHO program expands upon the financial assistance delivered to active duty family member beneficiaries who have a qualifying condition as defined by the law. It also continues to offer—and in some instances expands—services and supplies that supplement the basic TRICARE Prime, TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra program options. While there are many similarities between PFPWD and ECHO, the government’s monthly cost-share has increased from $1,000 to $2,500. Depending on the circumstances, ECHO benefits may include medical and rehabilitative services; training to use adaptive technology devices; special education; institutional care; transportation; services, such as those from a qualified interpreter or translator; durable equipment; expanded in-home medical service through TRICARE ECHO Home Health Care (EHHC); in-home respite care services, including ECHO and EHHC; and
Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA).
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TRICARE ECHO is only available to active duty family members who have a qualifying condition. The following are qualifying conditions under ECHO: moderate or severe mental retardation; a serious physical disability; an extraordinary physical or psychological condition of such complexity that the beneficiary is homebound; a diagnosis of a neuromuscular developmental condition or other condition in an infant or toddler that is expected to precede a diagnosis of moderate or severe mental retardation or a serious physical disability; and multiple disabilities, which may qualify if there are two or more disabilities affecting separate body systems.
Additionally, participants must register in the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) to be eligible for ECHO. To learn about EFMP, visit the DoD's Military Homefront web site.
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