PHOENIX, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 1, TriWest Healthcare Alliance, the TRICARE West Region health services support contractor, will begin providing access to quality health care services for more than 875,000 military men and women, retirees and eligible family members in California. This transition is part of the Department of Defense's (DoD) next generation of health care contracts in which three regional contractors will provide improved customer service, easier access to care and a reduced need for transferring Prime beneficiaries' enrollment when moving.
Operating under a five-year, $10 billion Defense Department contract awarded last August, TriWest's service area has expanded from 16 to 21 western states. Service to Washington, Oregon and northern Idaho began on June 1 (TriWest manages the rest of Idaho under the existing Central Region contract), and service to California, Hawaii, Alaska and Yuma, Ariz., will begin on July 1. TriWest selected San Diego as its strategic and policy headquarters and one of its five regional hub offices to most efficiently serve its expanded region and the extensive military presence in San Diego and surrounding communities, where 400,000 TRICARE-eligible beneficiaries reside.
"TriWest is in the business of caring, so we feel very proud and quite privileged to serve the deserving service men and women based and living in California, as well as their eligible family members, retirees and their eligible family members," said TriWest President and CEO David McIntyre. "We look forward to fulfilling our commitment to TRICARE by doing 'Whatever It Takes' to serve America's military families in California, Hawaii and Alaska beginning July 1."
TriWest will be assisted in managing the TRICARE program in California by leveraging the provider network of one of its owners, Blue Shield of California, which serves as TriWest's network subcontractor in California. TriWest's California operations, with 163 employees in San Diego and another 62 employees at 24 TRICARE Service Centers throughout the state, is led by Market Vice President John Shore.
"I am very pleased that the transition to TriWest is proceeding as scheduled," said Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. "While our military treatment facilities remain the core of the military health system, our regional contractors are important partners, providing additional providers and facilities for our beneficiaries through a civilian network."
The third of the three-phase West Region transition will take place on Oct. 1, when beneficiaries living in the balance of Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, southern Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and western Texas become part of TRICARE West. The West Region includes the former TRICARE Regions 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.
Formed from an alliance of 11 Blue Cross Blue Shield plans and two university hospitals expressly to bid on the first generation of TRICARE contracts, TriWest Healthcare Alliance began operations in 1996 when it was named one of four managed-care support contractors for the military health system and awarded a $2.5 billion, five-year contract.
"TriWest's unique approach of having respected locally-based health care entities -- our owners -- build and manage our provider networks has maximized health care access for beneficiaries in remote communities throughout the Central Region -- and we believe this innovative model will be equally effective in the West Region," McIntyre noted. "To best serve the five new states TriWest will manage in the West, we have added four additional Blue Cross Blue Shield plans to our ownership and network subcontracting base -- Blue Shield of California, Hawaii Medical Service Association, Regence BlueShield (Washington) and Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon." In Alaska, TriWest will support the DoD's network-contracting efforts.
TriWest Healthcare Alliance is the largest defense contractor headquartered in Arizona. It employs approximately 1,250 people and holds the 17th largest U.S. defense contract for 2003. With the transition to the new TRICARE West Region contract, TriWest will more than double its customer base from 1.2 million to 2.6 million beneficiaries.
About TriWest
TriWest Healthcare Alliance is a Phoenix-based corporation that partners with the Department of Defense to provide access to cost-effective, high-quality health care for 2.6 million members of America's military family in the 21-state TRICARE West Region, which is comprised of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and western Texas. For more information, visit http://www.triwest.com/.
TriWest Healthcare AllianceCONTACT: Jim Kassebaum of TriWest Healthcare Alliance, +1-602-564-2546,jkassebaum@triwest.com
Web site: http://www.triwest.com/
