Extensions mean current regional contractors will serve TRICARE beneficiaries through March 2011 Published Feb. 22, 2010 FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- Contract extensions issued by TRICARE Management Activity (TMA) mean TRICARE beneficiaries in the United States won't need to learn new phone numbers and Web sites any time soon. Current regional health care contractors, Health Net Federal Services in the North, Humana Military Healthcare Services in the South and TriWest Healthcare Alliance Corp. in the West, will continue to provide services to beneficiaries until March 31, 2011. Transition to new regional contracts, known as "T-3," was initially slated for completion by April 1, 2010, but formal protests filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) by two of the current contractors put transition activities on hold. Both protests were subsequently sustained by the GAO, and TMA is reevaluating the awards and considering options as recommended by the GAO. "Our regional contracts provide critical health, medical and administrative support services to our 9.6 million TRICARE beneficiaries," said TMA Deputy Director Rear Adm. Christine Hunter. "Extensions to our current contracts will allow time for transition to the T-3 contracts, while ensuring beneficiaries continue to receive high-quality care and outstanding customer service." Hunter explained that a formal transition period of at least 10 months ensures that beneficiaries and stakeholders get the information they need well in advance, and allows enough time to establish new processes and test interoperability. The T-3 contracts announced in July of 2009 are worth an estimated $55.5 billion over the base and five option periods. Aetna Government Health Plans, Hartford, Conn., was the contractor selected for the North Region, and UnitedHealth Military & Veterans Services, Minnetonka, Minn., was selected in the South Region, while TriWest was retained in the West Region. In addition to the sustained protests filed by Humana and Health Net, UnitedHealth filed an agency-level protest regarding the West Region award to TriWest, delaying transition for the entire United States. Under T-3, the three-region structure in the United States and all of the TRICARE benefit options offered under the current contracts remain the same. T-3 also features incentives encouraging the regional contractors to deliver: · High quality care · Exceptional customer service · Improved preventive care · Increased electronic claims processing · Better program management · Cost savings · Detection of fraud, waste, and abuse www.tricare.mil/T3contracts. There are also measures to assure network provider, beneficiary and military treatment facility command satisfaction. T-3 contract information and updates can be found on a special TRICARE Web page at www.tricare.mil/T3contracts.