Secretary of the Navy Designees-Secretary of the Navy Designees will be treated as indicated on their letter of designation.
Foreign Military Personnel-These personnel and their dependents, assigned through Personnel

Exchange Programs or other means, are or may be eligible. Eligible members may also include

-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military personnel and their dependents stationed in or passing through the United States;

-crew and passengers of visiting military aircraft; and

-crews of ships of NATO nations that come into port.
Other foreign military personnel may be eligible through Public Law or DoD agreements. As such, they will be treated in accordance with current service directives.

Patients in other organizations, such as Red Cross workers, Secret Service agents, Federal Aviation Administration personnel, and some non-retiree veterans, to name a few, are also in this category. Ensure current eligibility requirements are met for these personnel prior to treatment.

TRICARE
TRICARE is an enhancement of the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS). TRICARE is a medical benefits program established to enhance management of care services in military medical treatment facilities and to cost-share charges for medically necessary civilian services and supplies required in the diagnosis and treatment of illness or injury. TRICARE is also utilized if the required services are not available from the direct care system of the Department of Defense treatment facilities or designated MTFs.

Information pertaining to eligibility, extent of care, providers, cost, and claims is contained in the booklet Sailing with TRICARE, for Sailors and Their Families. A copy of this publication, along with the TRICARE Provider Directory and other helpful TRICARE information is available at your local TRICARE Service Center. A wealth of guidance is also available via the DoD TRICARE homepage, http://www.tricare.osd.mil.

NAVY MEDICINE'S QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Recall the philosophy of Navy medicine's Quality Assurance Program.

The Quality Assurance Program is used to evaluate the degree of excellence of the results of delivered care and to make improvements so that care in the future will result in a higher degree of quality. Quality assurance activities reflect what patients and providers expect of each other. In past years, various means of reviewing and evaluating patient care have been introduced. In 1979, the JCAH Board of Commissioners imposed the requirement for hospitals to coordinate quality assurance activities and to use an ongoing monitoring system to review and evaluate the quality and need for care. This approach is effective in identifying important patient-related problems and is applicable in every healthcare delivery situation. Many of the principles, standards, and organizational requirements of JCAH have been adopted and are contained in OPNAV 6320.7, Health Care Quality Insurance Policies for Operating Forces. BUMEDINST 6010.13, Quality Assurance Program, lists the required elements for process improvement (quality assurance) programs of naval hospitals, medical clinics, and dental clinics.

PATIENT RELATIONS AND COMMAND PATIENT CONTACT PROGRAMS

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Recall the philosophy of the Patient Relations Program and the Command Patient Contact Program.

Navy healthcare professionals have long understood the need for good communication and rapport between the patient and the medical department staff. The atmosphere in which patient care is given has a tremendous effect on the patient's perception of the quality of care. The quality of medical care rendered to Navy beneficiaries is superb; however, too frequently the medical care is perceived by the patient to be substandard because personnel in patient contact points are not adequately trained in interpersonal relations. Good patient rapport is an essential element of health care delivery. Many complaints voiced by patients would not occur if personnel manning critical patient contact points presented a courteous, positive, and knowledgeable attitude that reflected a genuine concern for the patient.

To this end, the Patient Relations Program was implemented through BUMEDINST 6300.10, Health Care Relations Program. The Patient Relations Program's primary goal is to provide assistance by intervention in and resolution of a patient's complaints or problems. The Patient Contact Program, a subset of the Patient Relations Program, ensures an effective means of resolving such issues before the patient departs the facility. As an adjunct to this goal, both programs strive to enhance the channels of communication between the hospital and the patient population, as well as among the hospital staff.