Joint Website Debuts as Major Military Health Care Merge Gets Underway

Four of the largest military hospitals have new pages on the Tricare website, an early step in a transition that will move the Defense Department's medical facilities under the Defense Health Agency.

Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Virginia, Naval Hospital Jacksonville in Florida, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, and Womack Army Medical Center in North Carolina have newly launched microsites with easy tabs to access the Tricare portal and view the hospital's directory.

"We hope this change to the website will make it easier for you to find information about your benefit and get care," Karen Roberts, Defense Health Agency deputy director of communications, said in a news release. "You won't have to learn a new website every time you move to a new location."

The Tricare website's expansion is part of an ongoing consolidation of medical treatment facilities under the Defense Health Agency. Lawmakers hope the change will allow the individual service branches to focus on military readiness and keep costs down.

By the end of the transition, in 2021, more than 350 individual military hospital and clinic websites will be hosted on the Tricare.mil website, officials said.

Related: DoD Begins Next Military Hospital Consolidation Phase

All the websites have the same blue horizontal menu with links to make an appointment and review Tricare options.

Womack Army Medical Center so far is the only website with forms to download other than the Active Duty Dental Claim Form, and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital's directory under the "About Us" tab includes a maps in addition to departments' phone numbers and hours.

The directories on each site contain listings ranging from medical services like dentistry and cardiology to shops like Starbucks, Subway or the flower shop.

-- Dorothy Mills-Gregg can be reached at dorothy.mills-gregg@monster.com.

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