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Emergency Department and Physical Therapy renovation and relocation update
As part of NAVHOSP Bremerton's continuing efforts to improve services, our Emergency Department will be undergoing a renovation to increase the number of patient rooms and improve the flow of patients through the department. These changes will increase privacy, provide a large triage space with a separate decontamination area, and ultimately decrease waiting time for patients.
The renovation will impact various departments in the hospital and will necessitate temporary relocation of the Emergency Department, Physical Therapy Department, the Chiropractic Clinic, and the hospital gymnasium. In addition, Occupational Health and Preventive Medicine offices currently located on the 2nd floor will permanently relocate to the 3rd floor.
Effective 25 January, the Emergency Department will be located in the current Physical Therapy spaces which are across from the Emergency Department’s current location. Physical Therapy will be located in building 12/13 which is located by taking 1st left upon entering compound, taking next immediate left and continuing forward. The building is located on the right, signs will be posted.
All medical services currently provided by affected departments will continue to be provided throughout the remodeling project, though the services will be provided in the temporary spaces. During the remodeling, please be aware that patients may experience some increased waiting times.
To accommodate ambulance services, the traffic pattern for the Mount Baker patient parking lot will be changed to one way, effective 22 January. To access this lot, patients will need to enter the lot from Boone road and will exit onto Higbee road,
While construction project schedules change frequently, it is estimated that the Emergency Department will return to its original spaces in late July and the Physical Therapy department will return to their original location in late-September.
Phone numbers and services will remain the same throughout the project.
Naval Hospital to pass information on Emergency Room visits to network providers
Effective immediately, all beneficiaries currently enrolled in the network and seen at the Naval Hospital Bremerton Emergency Department will have information on their visit sent directly to their network primary care manager within 1-2 business days. A new process now allows the Referral Management Center to access transcribed records of the visit and associated ancillary information. Once accessed, the Referral Management Center will fax the results to the primary care manager, ensuring the provider is appraised of the specifics of the visit and eliminating the need for patients to hand carry results back to their provider.
Next Health Care Consumer Council March 1st, 2007
Please remember to join us at our quarterly Health Care Consumer Council. These meetings are an opportunity to exchange information with Naval Hospital Bremerton and TriWest staff concerning local medical services and your health care benefit. Meetings are open to all TRICARE beneficiaries and command representatives and are held in Ross Auditorium at 1000. The next meeting will be Thursday, 1 Mar 2007
Naval Hospital Bremerton looking for patient advisors
Naval Hospital Bremerton is looking for individuals who are interested in participating as "patient advisors" to our Family-Centered Care team as they evaluate ways to improve our family-centered care. A "patient advisor" may be asked to help develop or review informational materials for families, provide educational sessions or resources on family centered care to providers, residents and support staff, raise awareness about issues of concern to families or offer a patient response to proposed changes or innovations in the health care system. If you, or someone you know, is interested, please call 475.4518.
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TRICARE online offers health information and appointments
TRICARE Online is a great way to improve healthcare access and wellness education for you and your family. This Internet “gateway” portal provides secure interactive customer services such as online medical advice, health information and the ability to book appointments for enrolled beneficiaries. ALL TRICARE beneficiaries (those enrolled in the network, or using TRICARE Extra and Standard) can use the online service to obtain information about TRICARE benefits and services, and access to18 million pages of reliable consumer health and drug information. Additionally, TRICARE Prime beneficiaries enrolled at Naval Hospital Bremerton or any of our Health Clinics can book routine and follow-up primary care appointments online.
Completing the one-time online registration (www.TRICAREOnline,com), assures you secure access to the site. Once registered, you can create a personal health journal to record health care data such as current treatment, immunizations, prescribed medications, and past medical procedures. By using your secure password to access this health journal, you can retrieve your personal health care information online from any location – even when you’re moving, traveling, or away from home on temporary assignment.
We’re excited to offer this wonderful program, and hope that you will find TRICARE Online to be helpful in providing additional healthcare resources to you and your family.
Naval Hospital looking to decrease No Shows
Naval Hospital Bremerton and its Health Clinics are working to reduce “no-shows”, patients who fail to cancel or show up for their scheduled appointments. How important is this subject? It’s very important when appointments are at a premium! Right now the hospital is encountering deployments of many providers and undergoing a major change with electronic medical records which results in a shortage of appointments – placing all appointments at a premium.
Busy schedules and unplanned events occur, but patients are encouraged to call and cancel appointments at the earliest opportunity. This allows the hospital or clinic to open those appointments for other beneficiaries. When a patient cancels an appointment at the last minute or does not show up for an appointment, the appointment time can go unfilled and reduces the opportunity for others who need to be seen, often forcing them to go to our emergency room for non-emergency care. This causes backups in our emergency room and increases the wait time. We encourage all of our patients to call if they can’t make the appointment to allow us to free up that space for another patient who needs to see their provider that day. If everyone would let us know when then can’t make it, that cancelled appointment may be yours the next time you need it!
The goal is to reduce the number of unused appointments at the hospital and clinics and offer greater access to our beneficiaries. To cancel or reschedule an appointment, call the TRICARE Regional Appointment Center at 800-404-4506.
Urgent medical advice available after hours
An after-hours access line is available to beneficiaries enrolled to Naval Hospital Bremerton (or one of our health clinics) with questions, concerns and/or wanting to contact a provider. The access line is staffed 24 hours a day. However, during working hours patients are asked to call their clinic directly. After working hours the access line will provide information or contact a provider to assist patients (if needed). The purpose of this service is to allow direct access to providers for urgent issues or urgent advice. It is not designed for routine matters such as medication refills or laboratory result follow up. The access line can be reached by calling: 360.475.5700 (for Bremerton, Bangor, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard) or 425.304.4060 (for Everett).
Briefers available to speak to family groups
Naval Hospital Bremerton has staff standing by to talk to your command or family group --- about Health Promotion activities, the TRICARE program, or any health related topic that you wish to discuss. Please contact Kendra Scroggs at 475.4408 if you are interested in having a hospital or TriWest representative come speak to your group.
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