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VA Informatics and Computing Infrastructure

DaVINCI: Military Health Systems (MHS) Basics


by Wendy Funk, MS
Seminar date: 1/11/2018

Description: Description: The Military Health System (MHS) has nearly 10 million eligible beneficiaries, many of whom are eligible for both the VA and the MHS, and many who will transition to VA eligibility upon separation from the Service. When conducting research on the VA/DoD dual-eligible population, it is important that VA researchers understand the MHS benefit structure, so that data can be properly interpreted. The Military Health System has a complex set of benefits, including tiered levels of access to military treatment facilities around the world and access to healthcare insurance programs, usually referred to as “purchased care”. The programs that beneficiaries enroll in can have a substantial impact on the availability of data. The purpose of this webinar is to familiarize researchers with the MHS, the points of access to healthcare and associated access priorities and to aid understanding implications for research. The following topics will be discussed: 1. What is the MHS? 2. Who does the MHS care for? 3. What is the direct care system? 4. TRICARE programs (now and future) 5. Priorities for access under TRICARE 6. TRICARE regional offices and managed care support contractors 7. Implications for research data



DOWNLOAD: PDF handout | Audio only (mp3) | transcript


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