Measuring Access to Care Through Changes in the Composite Health Care System (CHCS)

摘要

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how to improve the measurement of access through changes in the Department of Defense's medical information system, the Composite Health Care System (CHCS). The research question is, 'what percent of our beneficiaries who make contact with an appointment specialist are unable to receive an appointment'. Specific attention is given to how many beneficiaries try to get an appointment through the appointment specialist, only to be told there are no appointments available. This study found that in the month of January 1998 eleven percent of the TRICARE Prime enrollee callers could not get an appointment at Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) located in the Colorado Springs area, also known as the Pikes Peak Region. In that same month, nine percent of the TRICARE Prime enrollee callers could not get an appointment at Evans Army Community Hospital (EACH). Medical Treatment Facilities currently have no method for measuring how many beneficiaries are turned-away other than through trial and error or through Military Health Service (MHS) Performance Report Card survey. This study recommends a method for measuring the number of beneficiaries denied appointments. Those recommendations come in the form of slight modifications to the existing information system, CHCS.