My DH was told that Balboa hospital doesn't see tricare prime patients now? Do I need to go out in town for my OB/GYN? :thinking

wow,Ive never heard that. Im going to San Diego in five weeks,I will be having my baby down there. Balboa is about a 40 min drive from my parents so I was hoping they send me out to Grossmont hospital which is only a 20 min drive.

I am not sure if the info is correct or not...my dh was talking to tricare about something else and the lady told him that.

When I arrived in May, I was told Balboa and all other MTF were full with regard to Primary Care Physicians. OBGYN was not included at the time I spoke with them. To my knowledge, you can seek OB/GYN care at Balboa. I would call the Tricare Prime Office to confirm.

that is ridiculous.. being that it is the only military hospital around and tricare prime is what most active duty familes are. I will be having my baby there in about 8 weeks, I would think they would have sent me something...

For Primary Care, it is booked, or at least it was 6 months ago. I go to UCSD in Mira Mesa. I was allowed to have Tooters there, but not have PC. I would definitely call Tricare and confirm as well though. Good luck!

why is that such a bad thing Carebear?
Prime you don't pay so does it really matter?

It is possible. Here in GL they do not do pregnancy on base so I go to a civlian and will have the baby at a civlian hospital (same for my son..I had him at the civilian hospital out here)

So that is entirely possible. If it is they will likely refer you out! I would call to verify it tho.

You will still see a OB/GYN either at Balboa or NTC. BUT they are reffering patients out to Civi docs.

I don't know anything about the Balboa situation but I know with our hospital, if they don't have room to see you, they refer you out to a civilian doctor or another MTF. It never changed our insurance situation. It was just like being treated at the Naval Hospital. No bills/no cost.

We've never had to go to a civilian dr. The kids and I go to NTC, since we can walk there and well no parking issues. I went to balboa last week for dylan's speech appt. and I have to park on park blvd. Good think I left an hour and half before his appt.

My friend just got preggo and she's being seen at Balboa...I'd look into it....

A Message from the Commander of Naval Medical Center San Diego

Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) is currently experiencing a temporary shortage of a small number of Primary Care Providers. We contract approximately 700 civilian doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals to work with our uniformed and government service staff to deliver care. During a recent contract transition, about 15 doctors elected to not join the new contracting companies at the last minute. This has resulted in a shortage of primary care appointments at NMCSD. I am attaching my letter to our patients and hospital staff with details, but wanted to send out a few points for your information:

NMCSD continues to see ALL EMERGENT / URGENT / ACUTE patients. If someone is enrolled to us as a PRIME patient, and is sick, we will take care of them.
If a patient needs a non-illness related appointment (like a routine follow up for diabetes or hypertension, or a regular physical examination), we are giving them several options-- they can be seen at another one of our clinics; be disengaged for the visit and be seen by a TRICARE Network provider in the civilian community, paid for by TRICARE; or be placed on a wait list to be seen as soon as an appointment is available. (Just for your information, only two patients have elected to be seen by a network provider.)
I have tasked my providers and staff to do all that they can to optimize patient appointments during this time.
We have already received and credentialed five new physicians this week.
We're expending every effort to ensure that all our patients receive the proper care. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to call me or my Deputy Commander, Captain Dave Tam at 619-532-6402.


I dont know if this is what you are talking about,but I found this on Balboa hospitals web site.

To my understanding, Balboa isn't taking new PT's for primary care. You can be seen at the OB/GYN Clinic which is actually now mostly at NTC. I'm being seen at the midwife clinic there... I was told when we moved her that balboa wasn't taking people on as new in the primary care...but then ended up pregnant with Katrina (that was almost 3 yrs ago) and quite honestly it's HORRIBLE to have to go to balboa, yesterday it took me almost an hour to find parking b/4 DH's surgery, avoid balboa like the plague if you can!!!

YES AVOID BALBOA IF YOU CAN!

they tore up a major parking lot to build a parking garage and it will not be done till sometime next year.

If parking wasent bad enough...now with a lot tore up parking will be 100 times worse.... cept they do have shuttle busses if you park up somewhere by the zoo.