Orders but no Tricare...

Published May 7, 2010
By Capt Wayne Leneau
315th Airlift Wing

CHARLESTON S.C. -- Imagine this, it's 3 AM and you're awakened by your screaming 6-month old who's burning up with a fever. Your spouse is on contingency orders supporting the war in Afghanistan and has been for three weeks so you're sure that you can take your child in for the free medical care that he deserves. You arrive at the medical facility and the representative states, "I'm sorry ma'am but your spouse's orders aren't appearing in the TRICARE system so you have to wait until Customer Service opens so that you can speak with your DEERS representative."

It's now 4:15 a.m. and your child still hasn't stopped crying. The representative goes on to inform you that you can take the child to your personal doctor but reimbursement could take up to six months.

Frustrated yet? Although this sounds like a fictitious scenario, similar instances have happened to members of the 315 AW.

How does this happen? It's quite simple. Orders that are rejected from the Military Personnel Data System (MILPDS) do not appear in the Tricare system. Over a six month period over 202 members were rejected from MILPDS and their orders didn't appear in Tricare until the errors that caused the rejects were corrected.

The solutions to this problem came from eight 315 AW volunteers. March 1-5 the team used Air Force Smart Operations tools to map the existing process, identify the problems and to devise possible solutions that could be applied locally to improve service to our members and their families. The event culminated on 5 March when the team briefed their findings and potential solutions to the 315 AW Commander and key leaders.

Col Chapman went on to state "There's nothing more important than taking care of our airmen and their families." as he lauded the team for their efforts to solve the problem.

The team is now working to implement the ideas that came from the event.