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Know What to Do Before It Matters
Behavioral health care is like any other health care—you often don’t think about it until you need it.
But that approach may place you in an awkward situation should you or your family ever need to use TRICARE’s behavioral health care benefit. At the time, you may not want to discuss sensitive, personal issues with more outsiders than necessary, yet you won’t want to mistakenly incur more out-of-pocket costs than necessary either.
By understanding the benefit now, you can avoid unnecessary administrative hassles or financial burden.
TRICARE covers behavioral health care that is considered medically necessary (see list below). Remember, the provider must be TRICARE-certified.
If you are enrolled in TRICARE Prime, you are encouraged to coordinate your care through your primary care manager (PCM) to ensure continuity of care. However, you can obtain your first eight outpatient behavioral health visits per fiscal year without a referral from your PCM or authorization from ValueOptions. All appointments after the first eight visits require authorization, to be obtained by your behavioral health provider.
If you have additional questions, you can call ValueOptions at 1-800-700-8646 or access behavioral health information online. You can also ask Humana Military for a copy of the TRICARE Behavioral Health Care Services booklet or pick one up from your TRICARE Service Center.
Behavioral Health Providers Include...
- Psychiatrists
- Clinical psychologists
- Certified psychiatric nurse specialists
- Clinical social workers
- Certified marriage and family therapists
- Pastoral counselors—with physician referral and supervision
- Mental health counselors—with physician referral and supervision
TRICARE Covers...
- Outpatient psychotherapy
- Medication management
- Acute inpatient psychiatric care
- Partial hospitalization programs
- Residential treatment center care
- Care for substance use disorders
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