WASHINGTON – The Defense Department has responded to what it considered unacceptable service delays by temporarily changing the way UnitedHealthcare administers medical care for 1.6 million members of the military and their families.
The Minnetonka-based insurer has been under pressure from the government since taking over administration of the western region of the federal Tricare health insurance program for active duty military, retirees and their dependents on April 1.
Doctors have complained of weeks-long waits for patients to get UnitedHealthcare paperwork required to see medical specialists in a managed care network of 1.6 million beneficiaries called Tricare Prime.
Defense Department officials stepped in late last week, pushing UnitedHealthcare to address the problem. Now, Tricare has ordered changes in the insurance process to help patients avoid time-consuming administrative headaches, Tricare's chief spokesman Austin Camacho said.
The change allows primary care doctors to give patients letters from UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans to carry directly to specialists. The letters assure providers that the insurance company will pay those specialists.
Before, patients had to wait — sometimes for weeks — for UnitedHealthcare to issue those letters.
"The important message is that beneficiaries can get care in a timely fashion," Camacho said in an interview Tuesday. "We have this in place until May 18. Then, we'll look at it again."
The administrative delays that led the government to intervene could cost UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans, a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary formed in 2007 specifically to attract Tricare contracts. The government may bill the company any extra costs it incurs because of the administrative problems.
