Middlecamp, a native of Baltimore, MD, has served at every level from Platoon Leader to Deputy Commander for Administration at United States Army Medical Department Activity, FortKnox. Most recently he concluded an eight month assignment as the Northern Regional Medical Command Patient Administration Consultant, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

The change of command ceremony will be hosted by Mr. Davis D. Tindoll, Jr., Director of the Atlantic Region Installation Management Command. During the time honored ceremony, Colonel Allan J. Darden, Sr. will relinquish command of the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Detrick to Col. Steven P. Middlecamp.

SAN DIEGO — Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) is scheduled to

celebrate the grand opening of one of its newest clinics during a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 15.

Naval Branch Health Clinic (NBHC) Rancho Bernardo is poised to continue the hospital’s legacy of providing top-notch care to our nation’s heroes and those who stand by them.

“This new clinic takes that world-class quality and brings it right into our patient’s backyard.  World-class quality healthcare with a state-of-the-art facility and convenience that is second to none,” said Capt. (Dr.) Joe Aquilina, Director of Branch Clinics. “This is a great service to all the active duty, their families and retired service members who entrust us with their healthcare needs. It’s a real honor to serve these patients and I think putting so much into customer service and convenience really shows this commitment to our patients.”

NBHC Rancho Bernardo is staffed by a patient and family-centered Medical Home Port team that delivers primary care, immunizations, pharmacy, phlebotomy, case management and health and wellness services in a “one stop shop” environment to 4,800 eligible beneficiaries.

The Rancho Bernardo Clinic will assist in lightening the load on neighboring Branch Health Clinic Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, allowing for more personalized patient care, according to NMCSD’s Facilities Department Project Officer, Lt. Cmdr. Richard J. Taulli.

The clinic opened its doors to patients April 22. Its 11 staff members treat an average of 20 patients daily, according to Aquilina.

“The team has done a great job coming together and really getting our processes in place. Our providers love the new facility and our patients really appreciate being able to keep their current provider and see them in this brand-new clinic, which is close to their home or work,” he said.

The clinic has 13 examination rooms, a treatment room, two screening rooms, a laboratory, pharmacy, a space for mammography, a work pod for the clinic’s staff, as well as administrative and supply spaces in a 9,200-square-foot facility.

“This location brings the high quality NMCSD patient care to North [San Diego] County,” added NBHC Rancho Bernardo Department Head, Cmdr. Elizabeth Engelman. “We can now offer services in multiple locations that best serve our patient populations.”

Planning for the new clinic began in 2009; construction commenced in December 2012 and was completed in March 2013.

“I am very pleased with the results; the facility is very attractive, and raises the standard of care for our patients. The effort and support of all involved was truly above par, above and beyond in every case,” said Taulli. “I am extremely proud to have been part of this team, and grateful to be entrusted with such an important task for the hospital, its beneficiaries, and San Diego.”

NMCSD also recently opened Branch Health Clinic Eastlake and is scheduled to celebrate the grand re-opening of the newly-renovated Branch Health Clinic Naval Training Center May 31.

NBHC Rancho Bernardo is located at 11770 Bernardo Plaza Court, San Diego, CA92128. The clinic’s hours are Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. To schedule an appointment or for additional information, please contact (858) 673-2300.

For more information on Naval Medical Center San Diego, visit http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcsd, www.facebook.com/nmcsd, or www.twitter.com/NMC_SD.

myPay is the online pay management system for payroll customers of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS). The system is anticipated to be unavailable for several hours on May 11. DFAS recommends myPay users plan to access the system on May 10 or after May 11 to avoid any inconvenience while the new release is put online.

“While each myPay release brings new and better ways to manage the pay of our military, federal civilian employee and military retiree customers,” said Dave McDermott, DFAS deputy director for Operations, “the latest release will affect all 4.5 million established myPay account holders. New and more stringent password requirements may seem bothersome to some of our users, but in a world of identity theft and online criminal threats, it is the password requirements that safeguards your money, your identity and your well being.”

Beginning in May, groups of users will be required to establish new passwords when they attempt to access their accounts. DFAS expects it will take four months before all users have updated their passwords. Once a password has been created, each myPay user will have to update their password every 60 days.

DFAS plans to send email alerts 10 days before expiration of a user’s password.

Customers logging into myPay using DoD computer access cards (CAC) or a similarly encrypted federal ID card will not be required to enter a password to log in to myPay.

“The FBI, the Commerce Department and other federal and state agencies all recommend strong passwords along with ways to protect personal information and computer networks as the best defense,” McDermott said.

More information on the myPay Spring 2013 release and the new password requirements is available on the DFAS website at http://www.dfas.mil/dfas/mypayinfo.html or click on a link below to get myPay release details for that particular category.

  • Stronger Password Requirement (All myPay customers) – http://www.dfas.mil/mypayinfo/password.html

  • Password Reset Questions (all myPay customers) – http://www.dfas.mil/mypayinfo/securityquestions.html

  • For Active Duty Army, Navy and Air Force – http://www.dfas.mil/mypayinfo/foractiveduty.html

  • For Active Duty/Reserve Marine Corps – http://www.dfas.mil/mypayinfo/formarines.html

  • For Military Retirees – http://www.dfas.mil/mypayinfo/forretirees.html

  • For Savings Deposit Program participants – http://www.dfas.mil/mypayinfo/forsdpparticipants.html

SAN DIEGO – Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) wounded, ill and injured service members participate in an early-morning yoga clinic at San Diego’s Del Mar beach. Following the yoga clinic, participants engaged in a weekly surfing lesson hosted by NMCSD’s Health and Wellness Department. The lesson introduces service members to the fundamentals of surfing, kayaking and other water skills, while improving their mobility and restoring their confidence in themselves following injury. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist William Clark/Released)

Military folks upset by Obama administration proposals to cap pay raises, to phase-in sharply higher co-pays on prescriptions filled off base and to raise TRICARE costs on working-age retirees also tend to rail against such changes with arguments politicians can shrug off as stale or in error.

Two examples from the flood of feedback to recent columns are:

– “We were promised free health care for life” and

– “Before Congress votes to raise fees on those who secure our freedoms they should first pay more for their own health care.

The flaw of the first is that “free lifetime” care promises were made to older generations and not to working-age retirees who are the main targets of proposed fee hikes. Also, federal appellate courts ruled a decade ago that benefits promised by recruiters or even commands at time of reenlistment aren’t legally binding for the government if not backed by federal statute.

To the second popular argument, U.S. senators and representatives have the same health insurance as federal civilian employees so they already pay higher premiums — as they should — than do military folks, and their premiums increase annually with overall health costs.

But far more effective arguments against compensation curbs are being made by representatives of The Military Coalition, an umbrella group of associations and veteran groups, who last Wednesday testified before the Senate armed services’ subcommittee on military personnel.

Their talking points still seem to resonant with lawmakers even as government functions get squeezed by a debt crisis and frightened politicians avoid hard choices by using the automatic pilot of budget sequestration.

Though only several senators heard their points this day, coalition reps will continue to make them privately to key lawmakers and congressional staff. Still, it will be a Herculean task to avoid pay caps and higher TRICARE fees, certainly if lawmakers refuse to reach a debt deal to end sequestration. The Obama defense budget request for 2014 doesn’t even reflect $52 billion in deeper cuts that would occur if sequestration were not repealed.

Kathleen Moakler with National Military Family Association warned the subcommittee that because of sequestration, and a recent six-month delay in passing the fiscal 2013 defense appropriations bill, “military families now doubt our nation’s leaders’ commitment to supporting their service.”

Steve Strobridge, a retired Air Force colonel who retires again this month, from Military Officers Association of America, after 19 years of hardnosed advocacy for troops, challenged the contention of multiple defense secretaries that personnel costs, particularly for TRICARE, are out of control.

“Claims of exploding military health costs cite growth since 2001 as if that were a reasonable starting point. But it’s not,” he told the subcommittee. “Congress enacted TRICARE for Life in 2001 to correct the ejection of older retirees from military health care in the six years before that. There was a spike as they returned to coverage in 2002 and 2003. But the cost growth has actually been declining ever since.”

He argued that personnel costs “are the same share of the defense budget — a little less than a third — that they’ve been for the last 30 plus years. In fact the Department of Defense has used the health account as a cash cow to fund other needs, diverting $700 million in surplus funds last year and $2.5 billion over the last three years.”

Military health benefits are excellent and carry lower fees into retirement because members paid “in-kind” premiums civilians don’t face over many years of dangerous and arduous service, Strobridge said.

He suggested Defense officials refuse to end waste in the health system, such as operating separate medical commands for the Army, Air Force and Navy, because it’s politically difficult, and instead find it easier to propose that beneficiaries pay more for their care.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) challenged the coalition’s opposition to proposals to means test the level of TRICARE fees based on rank at retirement. Strobridge refused to budge, arguing that means testing is appropriate for welfare payments but not benefits earned through service.

For the coalition, Joe Barnes with Fleet Reserve Association argued that current service members deserve a full 1.8 percent pay raise in January to match private sector wage growth versus a one percent federal pay cap proposed by the administration. He warned against returning the military to an era of pay gaps and retention challenges last seen in the late 1990s.

“Pay comparability is directly related to long-term readiness,” he said.

Marshall Hanson with Reserve Officers Association had perhaps the hardest task, arguing for new initiatives to address “benefit parity issues” for Reserve and Guard forces compared to active duty colleagues.

Drilling reservists, for example, earn a Reserve GI Bill education benefit valued at 11.5 percent of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Hanson said. Also, Reserve and Guard members deployed for war can lower the age at which they retire. But a glitch in law makes these members lose months off the calculation if their deployment period spans the start of a new fiscal year.

At the same hearing, Defense Department witnesses defended the pay caps and TRICARE fee increases as necessary in tight budget times to keep smaller defense budgets “in balance” and protect readiness.

Key lawmakers sent mixed signals. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), subcommittee chair, said she remains “very skeptical about increasing costs for military members and veterans.”

But Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), ranking Republican, suggested he could support fee increases if they made TRICARE more sustainable.

“Because if it’s not sustainable, it’s a false promise,” said Graham. He said he wants to avoid a situation where retiree health care costs and a shrinking defense budget lessen the capabilities of active duty forces.

CORRECTION: IN MY COLUMN TWO WEEKS AGO, DESCRIBING THE PROPOSED TRICARE FEE INCREASES, I MADE A SIGNIFICANT ERROR OF OMISSION. THE TRICARE FOR LIFE (TFL) INCREASES, IF ADOPTED, WOULD IMPACT ONLY THOSE RETIREES WHO AGE INTO TFL BENEFITS AFTER ENACTMENT OF THE LAW. THAT GRANDFATHERING PROTECTION, BY THE WAY, WOULD NOT APPLY TO HIGHER PRESCRIPTION FEES DESCRIBED LAST WEEK.

SAN DIEGO – Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) Deputy Commander, Capt. Mark A. Kobelja, speaks to guests during the grand opening ceremony of Naval Branch Health Clinic (NBHC) Eastlake. NBHC Eastlake boasts 13 examination rooms with a 20-person MedicalHomePort team that delivers patient and family-centered primary care, immunizations, pharmacy, phlebotomy, case management and health and wellness services to 4,800 eligible beneficiaries. The 9,400-square-foot clinic treats an average of 100 patients per day. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2^nd Class Jessica L. Tounzen/Released)

SAN DIEGO – Hospitalman John Alexis Villegas (left) and Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Kelvin Cabacungan (right), members of Naval Medical Center San Diego’s (NMCSD) command color guard, prepare to raise the flag during a monthly awards ceremony coinciding with morning colors at NMCSD’s flag pole. During the ceremony, 24 civilian and military personnel received a total of 11 Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, six Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, one Meritorious Service Medal, and two Letters of Commendation. Additionally, NMCSD’s Senior, Junior and Bluejacket Sailors of the Year were recognized, and four NMCSD clinics were acknowledged for their superior performance. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jessica L. Tounzen/Released)

Lt. Cmdr. (Dr.) Tyler Miles while working as an aerospace optometrist at the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute (NAMI) in Pensacola, Fla. (Photo courtes of Lt. Cmdr. Tyler Miles)

By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Pyoung K. Yi, Naval MedicalCenter

San Diego Public Affairs -

SAN DIEGO – A Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) doctor was awarded the Stanley H. Freed Navy Junior Optometrist of the Year 2012, Apr. 9.

Lt. Cmdr. (Dr.) Tyler Miles, a research director and clinical optometric liaison for NMCSD’s Refractive Surgery Center, was nominated by Cmdr. (Dr.) Rick Zeber, executive officer, Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity in Virginia, for his leadership and role in researching and conducting clinical trials in 2012, as well as for his accomplishments as an outstanding leader, clinician and administrator of Navy Optometry.

“Miles is an exceptional officer and leader who exemplifies Navy Optometry’s mission to support operational forces and provide impactful leadership to Navy Medicine,” said Zeber.

Miles’ most notable achievement during 2012 was his leadership in obtaining more than $600,000 in research funding and publishing results of two vision science protocols for NMCSD’s Navy Refractive Surgery Center.

During Miles’ time at the Naval Training Center in San Diego, he oversaw various research projects such as implementing a telescopic contact lens or heads-up display sunglasses for soldiers in combat.

“The telescopic lens is a very new type of nanotechnology,” said Miles. “They put a reflective telescope into a large contact lens. It’s designed to give someone a 3X magnified view, like using light-powered binoculars.”

The heads-up display sunglasses provide a computer readout from the wearer’s temple, and allows for constant communication and threat detection during firefights, according to Miles.

Miles is passionate about giving service members in combat an edge by researching ways to optimize their sight-seeing capabilities.

“We enhance the warfighters who are out there by helping their vision get better,” said Miles. “Our studies involve that, trying to improve our outcomes.”

Miles, a native of Poulsbo, Wash., first became interested in optometry while an undergraduate at Brigham Young University in Utah.

While majoring in molecular biology, Miles visited an optometrist to undergo an eye exam. It was this visit that sparked his interest in pursuing a career in optometry and exploring the science behind human vision.

“I went and observed an optometrist during my first eye exam when I was 19 years old,” said Miles. “I thought it was really cool. I liked all the equipment and the work environment.”

In addition, optometry gave Miles a way to combine his interests in separate studies of science.

“In college, I was trying to figure out what do with my life,” said Miles. “I was interested in biology. I was interested in physics. I found optometry combined both because it has a lot do with optics [the branch of physics involving the behavior and properties of light].”

After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree, Miles applied and was accepted to University of California, Berkeley’s School of Optometry.

It was at a Berkeley conference on optometry schools in the West Coast where Miles first seriously considered a career in the Navy.

“My buddies and I were investigating the military as an option,” said Miles. “At this conference, I met a naval officer from San Diego. I talked to him and got enthused about it. He told us about some of the programs in the Navy.”

Miles’ encounter with the naval officer made an impression; soon afterward, he signed up for the Navy’s Health Services Collegiate Program to become an optometrist in the Navy.

Following his commissioning in 2004, Miles worked as a staff optometrist at Naval Hospital Sigonella in Italy.

In 2007, he was accepted as a student into the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute’s (NAMI) Aerospace Optometry (AsO) program in Pensacola, Fla. Miles was the 19th person to go through the six-month program.

During his time in Pensacola, Miles helped Navy and Marine Corps pilots meet vision standards so they could fly aircraft.

“Aviators have a lot of vision standards they need to meet,” said Miles. “Their vision is very important to their job.”

After his time in the NAMI AsO program, Miles was assigned to NAMI AsO as a staff member, where he taught flight surgery courses.

According to Miles, being on staff at the NAMI AsO required awareness of the standards pilots must meet to move on to the next phase of their training.

“Part of the job was good knowledge of the standards and waiver processes,” said Miles.

Miles also administered exams, taught classes, and provided training to the pilots. His principal role was to make sure they were vision-ready.

“If they weren’t 20/20, we would investigate, and see if it was a temporary or permanent problem,” he said.

In 2011, Miles transferred to NMCSD to assume the duties of research director at the Navy Refractive Surgery Center.

Miles revealed his reaction upon learning he had been selected as the Navy’s Junior Optometrist of the Year for 2012.

“I was surprised. I didn’t really think about it much,” said Miles. “It’s a good honor to receive. I know there are a lot of military optometrists out there. And there’s a lot of very good optometrists.”

The award is named after Freed, a retired Navy captain who made significant contributions to Navy Medicine and the profession of optometry during his career.

For more information from Naval Medical Center San Diego, visit http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcsd, www.facebook.com/NMCSD, or www.twitter.com/NMC_SD.

Obama Budget: Cap Military Raises, Hike Retiree Health Fees

Trying once more to get military compensation costs “under control,” the Obama administration has asked Congress to cap annual active duty and reserve component pay raises, and to phase in over four years a complex formula for raising TRICARE fees on retirees of all ages and their families.

The five-year budget plan unveiled Wednesday proposes that annual pay raises be held at one percent from 2014 through 2016 and be raised to 1.5 percent in 2017 and to 2.5 percent in 2018, said Robert Hale, the Department of Defense’s under secretary and comptroller.

The first year’s pay cap alone, which would trim just eight-tenths of a percentage point off a scheduled 1.8 percent increase to match of private sector wage growth, would save $540 million in 2014 and $3.5 billion through 2018, officials said.

As in years past, the administration seeks to cut health costs by having retirees and families pay more under all three options of TRICARE.

Here are details of these proposals:

TRICARE Prime – The current family enrollment fee of $539 for working-age retirees (under age 65) would increase next year to equal 2.95 percent of the individual’s gross retired pay.  But for 2014 the fee would be subject to an annual minimum, or floor, of $548 and a ceiling of $750 ($900 for flag officers).  The fee would be raised to 3.3 percent of gross retired pay in 2015 with a floor of $558 and ceiling of $900 ($1200 for flag); 3.65 percent in 2016 with floor of $569 and ceiling of $1050 ($1500 for flag); and so on until reaching 4 percent of gross retired pay in 2018 with a floor of $594 and ceiling of $1226 ($1840 for flag).

Fees for single coverage would be half these amounts.

TRICARE Standard/Extra – For the first time, users of these options would face an annual enrollment fee, starting at $70 for single coverage or $140 for family, and rising each year until reaching $125 (individual) and $250 (family) in 2018.  Also, the current annual deductible of $150 (individual) and $300 (family) would gradually increase, starting in 2014 and until it reached $290 (individual) and $580 (family) in 2018.

Adjustments – After 2018, all TRICARE enrollment fees, floors and ceilings, and deductibles for retirees would climb yearly by the same percentage increase of cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for military retired pay to keep pace with inflation.

TRICARE for Life – Beneficiaries 65 and older can use TRICARE for Life as a golden supplement to Medicare. Officials said a comparable individual policy in 2009 would cost $2100 in the private sector.  So, they reason, military elderly should at least pay a small enrollment fee. But these changes would be grandfathered to impact only retirees who become TFL beneficiaries after enactment.

The fee would equal one half of one percentage point of gross retired pay in 2014; one percent in 2015; 1.5 percent in 2016, and two percent in 2017 and in 2018.  But the fees would have ceilings: no more $150 a year in 2014; no more than $300 in 2015, $450 in 2016, $600 in 2017 and no more than $618 in 2018.  Flag officers would face higher ceilings though not substantial. After 2017, these fees would be adjusted by the percentage of retiree COLAs.

Pharmacy Fees – The administration wants to follow last year’s increases in pharmacy co-pays with additional increases phased in to encourage greater use of mail order and generic drugs.

Catastrophic Cap – The current cap on total out-of-pocket costs TRICARE costs of $3000 a year would be raised for retirees in two ways: by excluding any TRICARE enrollment fees from counting toward the cap; and by raising the cap annually by the percentage of retiree COLA.

Officials hope tying the size of fees to level of retired pay will soften resistance in Congress.  Also, this year’s plan would exempt from any fee increases the survivors of members who die on active duty and persons medically retired from service.  And the department no longer is asking that TRICARE fees be adjusted annually based on medical inflation.

That concession to use retiree COLAs instead might be less than it appears.  The Obama budget proposes, as part of a larger debt-reduction deal, that all federal COLAs, including for social security, veteran benefits and retirement plans, switch to a “chain” Consumer Price Index to measure inflation.  This CPI would save the billions of dollars annually by shaving every COLA by a fraction of a percentage point.

Obama’s support for it is conditional; Republicans must agree to close some corporate tax loopholes and to raise taxes on the wealthy.  Still, Obama support of chain CPI has drawn fire from some Democrats and liberals in Congress.  Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who chairs the veterans affairs committee, added language to the Senate’s non-binding budget resolution to oppose if.  If the chain CPI is adopted, said Sanders, “veterans who started receiving VA disability benefits at age 30 would have their benefits reduced by $1,425 [a year by] age 45.”

In unveiling the 2014 defense budget request, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the smaller pay raises and TRICARE changes would save $1.4 billion next year and $12.8 billion over just five years.  The TRICARE changes, he said, would “bring the beneficiary’s cost-share closer to the levels envisioned when the program was first implemented.”

In 1996, officials said, retirees covered 27 percent of total TRICARE costs with enrollment fees, deductibles or co-payments.  Today, their out-of-pocket costs cover only 11 percent.

Asked to recall how hard it was to vote for higher TRICARE fees when he was a senator, Hagel said times are different now.  When he left Congress in 2009 the global financial crisis was just beginning.  Today, the Department of Defense is struggling with $41 billion in automatic cuts this year from budget sequestration.  It faces $500 billion in more cuts over the next decade if the administration and Congress can’t partner on a solution.

The $527 billion defense budget for 2014 assumes that a large debt-reduction deal is reached and sequestration ends.  The defense share of the deal would be $150 billion in cuts over the decade versus $500 billion under sequestration.  If slowing compensation growth isn’t as part of that $150 billion cut, Defense officials said, deeper force cuts are inevitable.

Let your elected officials know how you feel about these proposed TRICARE fee increases.  Obtain contact information for your elected official at http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

SAN DIEGO – Four Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) clinics have been awarded the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Level III certification, the highest recognition medical facilities can receive from the NCQA, for Medical Home Port (MHP).

Naval Branch Health Clinics (NBHC) Chula Vista, East County, Miramar and Naval Training Center (NTC) add to the existing two NMCSD clinics previously recognized (NBHC Kearny Mesa and NMCSD’s Internal Medicine clinics, the first two clinics in the NMCSD enterprise to obtain Level III certification) for practicing MHPs at the highest level, according to Capt. (Dr.) Joe Aquilina, Director of Branch Clinics.

MHP is a standardized primary care team model that fosters the partnership between the patient, his or her primary care provider and their primary care team. Care is facilitated by registries, information technology, health information exchange and other means to ensure patients get the right care at the right time. By streamlining the process of care, MHP is positioned to provide better access, continuity of care, wellness and disease management for patients.

NCQA certification for Medical Home Port is mandated by the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) Instruction 6300.19, which states that “all MedicalHomePort locations will attain recognition for Level I within four months of establishing a Medical Home Port clinic. Once achieving NCQA Level I recognition through a self-assessment, Medical Home Port clinics have an additional six months to achieve NCQA Level II recognition.”

Aquilina shared his thoughts on the four clinics going above and beyond the NCQA’s basic requirements to attain Level III status.

“In addition to their current duties delivering care, each member was able to educate staff, identify opportunities for process improvement, and document clinical practices,” he explained.

NBHC Chula Vista staff did just that. The clinic’s 12-month certification process began with NCQA training in January 2012. Following weekly reviews of clinic processes and standards and preliminary reviews by NMCSD and Navy Medicine leadership August through October, clinic leadership submitted 180 documents to NCQA in November 2012. Final results were posted Dec. 17, 2012, with the Chula Vista clinic scoring 99.25 out of 100 possible points, revealed the clinic’s director, Cmdr. Faria Belmares, who added the review enhanced several of the clinic’s health care processes, leading to improved patient experience and care.

NTC staff assembled a special team that met regularly in order to prepare the clinic’s personnel for new processes and stringent documentation required by the NCQA.

“Our entire staff was involved in this effort that took nine months from start to finish. Once we implemented process improvements, we had to monitor them and pull data after several months to show proof that we were in fact improving the level of care provided to our patients,” said Cmdr. (Dr.) Todd Lauby, NTC clinic director.

NCQA’s recognition of these four clinics is a testament to their high degree of commitment to NMCSD’s mission according to Aquilina.

“I couldn’t be more proud.this could not have been possible without the determination of the clinic leadership and the dedication of our clinic staff,” he said. “We are committed to providing the highest quality care

available anywhere in San Diego or in the DOD. These most recent NCQA recognitions are an important part of that process.”

Level III certification is valid for three years. NMCSD’s six clinics are among 34 clinics in Navy Medicine West (NMW) and 66 in Navy Medicine to attain level III recognition for Medical Home Port. Seventeen more are expected to apply for Level III recognition this year, according to retired Navy Nurse Capt. Jane Hourigan, NMW director for healthcare operations.

For more information on Naval Medical Center San Diego, visit www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcsd, www.facebook.com/nmcsd, or www.twitter.com/NMC_SD.