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20th Medical Group welcomes providers

  • Published
  • By Ms. Nancy Martin
  • 20th Medical Group
Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. --  As with most military organizations, the summer permanent change of station rotation took a toll on the medical staff of the 20th Medical Group.

As a current patient enrolled to our clinic, over the past four months you have more than likely felt the discomfort of being referred to a local urgent care center during the duty day because we did not have appointments available. (While we strive to schedule appointments with your primary care manager, we use urgent care center referrals to ensure you get timely access to care when appointments are filled).

You may have also experienced several changes with your PCM and were required to see several different providers each time you reported for an appointment. Well, the good news is that your 20th Medical Group has received nine new providers over the past 90 days and our staff is now better equipped to ensure your needs are taken care of.

With the arrival of seven new family health providers and two new pediatric providers, you will begin to see your appointment availability increase as well as the consistency of seeing your own PCM at each visit.

While we are confident that our patients received exceptional medical care by the few providers who did not rotate or leave the Air Force over the summer, we are excited to receive these newly assigned staff members.

In addition to provider staff, we are also very pleased with the arrival of a new nursing staff who replaced personnel that previously departed Shaw AFB. These medical professionals will enhance your medical experience with their support to your PCM team.

As the 20th Medical Group medical staff stabilizes, our enrolled patients will be cared for by doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners who will provide quality medical care at every level.

Our staff boasts extremely experienced flight surgeons, family health physicians and pediatric trained providers who lead each of our medical teams in providing quality care. Our current civilian providers come to us with a vast amount of military experience themselves, whether as an active-duty member or from working within the Department of Defense.

In addition to family and pediatric health as well as flight medicine, the 20th Medical Group continues to provide care in our Women's Health Clinic to all enrolled beneficiaries. Our mental health and dental clinics only have capacity to treat active duty members but their dependents will be treated in the civilian community through the Humana TRICARE contract network. All other specialty needs are referred to military treatment facilities or to a TRICARE qualified specialist within our local area.

The 20th Medical Group welcomes our new staff and we are proud to take care of the men and women of Shaw AFB. Enrolled patients can call 895-CARE (2273) to make an appointment with their PCM or to contact ancillary services within the clinic.

Dependents of active-duty members that are not currently enrolled to the 20th Medical Group are encouraged to visit the TRICARE Service Center, building 1051, between the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to change their enrollment, as we have enrollment opportunities in family health, flight medicine and pediatrics. Any questions regarding enrollment can be directed to the patient administration office at 895-6228. We want YOU to make the 20th Medical Group your medical home. More importantly, we want to ensure you receive the care you expect and deserve.