Fort Campbell, KY – Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH) personnel are working to minimize impact to beneficiaries as a number of Soldiers serving at the hospital prepare to deploy with the 531st Hospital Center.
More than two dozen military medical personnel assigned to Blanchfield Army Community Hospital are supporting the 531st Hospital Center emergency deployment readiness exercise, which was announced this past weekend.
This deployment exercise, which includes military medical personnel, may temporarily impact some BACH primary and specialty care services within the next month.
However, BACH personnel will work closely with Humana Military and the supporting medical network partners to ensure patients assigned to BACH receive safe and timely care.
“These deployments are absolutely necessary to actively engage our military medical team as they support the readiness of the 531st Hospital Center. Our hospital team stands ready to safely and effectively care for our military personnel, retirees and their families as we continue with our medical mission at home while simultaneously supporting this readiness mission,” said BACH commander Col. Patrick T. Birchfield.
Patients whose appointments are affected will be notified. Beneficiaries assigned to BACH may continue to call the hospital’s primary care appointment line at 270.798.4677 or 931.431.4677 to schedule or cancel appointments. Appointments may also be scheduled or cancelled using TRICARE online at www.tricareonline.com
If BACH’s primary care team is not able to support appointment requests within the timeline perimeters set forth by TRICARE access standards of care, the BACH team will connect beneficiaries with one of BACH’s network partners.
Some patients scheduled for surgery in the coming weeks may be impacted by surgeons supporting the 531st Hospital Center deployment. BACH’s surgery team will contact impacted patients and provide the options of either continuing surgery with another surgeon or rescheduling their surgery.
Recently, the Army made a shift in how many military medical personnel are assigned to military treatment facilities. Rather than being assigned to a hospital and serving in the Professional Filler System (PROFIS), many military medical personnel are now part of a field unit with duty at the hospital.
This allows medical personnel and Army units to stay ready and proficient in order to respond effectively and in a timely manner when the moment to deploy arrives. BACH currently has approximately 60 military medical personnel who day-to-day work at BACH, but are now organic to a deployable unit, with the majority serving with the 531st Hospital Center at Fort Campbell.
Military medical personnel assigned to BACH have the same notification requirements as other military personnel to be prepared to deploy to support Army readiness and our nation’s call.
