LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Airmen on Laughlin traveling outside the local area for medical treatment take note: there’s been recent changes in rules and processes for the 47th Medical Group and patient travel outside the Del Rio, Texas, area.
Staff Sgt. Michele Lazurka, 47th Medical Support Squadron referral management center non-commissioned officer in charge, wants to ensure Laughlin Airmen and families know the processes for patient travel that will potentially affect their medical care.
“There’s been many Airmen that have travelled to San Antonio without realizing they could be reimbursed,” Lazurka said.
The changes in rules, which were made across the entire Air Force, focus on both clarification and the process. Not only do the changes bring more detailed instructions, but they also bring revised rules to overnight travel and expenditures that are reimbursable.
Patients who are referred more than 100 miles outside the area must follow a few steps to ensure their experience is seamless.
First, a patient must visit their primary care manager to initiate a referral for outside treatments. Secondly, once the patient has been notified of the approved referral, they must visit the patient travel office to sign a mandatory “patient travel briefing” before travel. During the third step of the process, the briefing highlights the step-by-step requirements for reimbursement and the most recent rule changes.
“Educating the patients on their specific entitlements is important to us,” said Lazurka. “Just because somebody might know somebody else who had been reimbursed for a charge doesn’t mean it would exactly apply in their situation.”
The fourth step of the process requires the patient or designated sponsor to create travel orders in the Defense Travel System, where the signed patient travel briefing is uploaded. With everything in order, the patient attends their appointment at the designated medical treatment facility.
Finally, once the traveler returns to Laughlin or the Del Rio area, the patient or designated sponsor will log back into DTS to finalize their trip for reimbursement.
“Anytime we hear about a patient not knowing they could have been reimbursed is a fail for the medical group,” Lazurka said.
Since the recent changes were rolled out, the patient travel office has heavily emphasized the importance of scheduling a visit before leaving for medical appointments outside the local area.
For more information, call the 47th MDSS patient travel referral office at (830) 298-6333.