TRICARE Patients at Magnolia Primary Care in Southlake

We see TRICARE patients at our Southlake office, and we want to be precise about what that means, because the difference between contracted and participating is money out of your pocket.

Where we actually stand

We are not in network with TRICARE. We are not contracted with TriWest, which administers TRICARE West including Texas.

We do see TRICARE patients and we file claims as a non-network participating provider. Participating means we accept the TRICARE allowable charge as payment and bill TRICARE directly, rather than asking you to pay the full amount up front and chase reimbursement yourself.

That is a genuine service and it is also not the same as being in network. A non-network visit generally costs you more. Any practice that lets you assume otherwise is doing you a disservice.

Prime and Select behave differently

TRICARE Prime assigns you a primary care manager and coordinates care through them. Seeing someone outside that assignment usually requires a referral or a change of primary care manager. Going ahead without authorization typically pushes the visit into the point of service option, where cost shares are substantially higher. This catches people out, and the bill is unpleasant.

TRICARE Select works more like a preferred provider plan. Select members can generally see non-network participating providers without a referral, at a higher cost share than in-network care. Your exact share depends on your beneficiary category and whether your sponsor’s service began before or after January 1, 2018.

Before you book, do two things

Call us with your plan details, and call TRICARE or check milConnect for your cost share.

We will tell you exactly how we would file. TRICARE will tell you what you owe. Between the two you will have the real number, which is the only useful basis for deciding.

If the answer is that a network provider makes more financial sense for you, we will say so.

What we handle

Annual physicals and preventive screening, chronic conditions including blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol, sick visits, telehealth, women’s health and men’s preventive care.

We see patients age 16 and older, which covers most dependents in high school along with active duty family members and retirees. We do not provide pediatric, prenatal or emergency care.

Why military families end up here anyway

Two things come up repeatedly. Continuity is hard when you move often, and getting seen quickly matters when you are running a household alone during a deployment.

We are small. You can keep seeing the same provider, the person answering the phone works in this building, and records transfer out cleanly when you move because there is one place they live.

Whether that is worth a non-network cost share is your call, and you should make it with the actual number in hand.

Booking

Bring your uniformed services identification card, your TRICARE information and your medication list.

Book a visit, or see the plans we are in network with.