Appointments & Referrals
If you have a medical emergency, please call 911 or proceed to the nearest emergency room.
ATTENTION: Extended wait times
As the NCR Market continues with its transition to MHS GENESIS, the IRMAC is experiencing extended wait times. We thank you for your patience as we continue to work through our technological challenges. To avoid these wait times, send a message to your care team using the MHS GENESIS Patient Portal.
Referrals and Authorizations
Information for referrals and authorization can be found on the TRICARE website.
Need an Appointment?
If you're looking for a primary care provider or a specialist for treatment or a second opinion, please use one of the methods listed below:
Appointments at Pax River
Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River provides Primary Care, a Military Readiness Clinic and select specialty services, including Occupational Health, Physical Therapy, Behavioral Health and Dental. We are not an Emergency Room and cannot provide emergency care nor sick calls.
An appointment is required. You should be able to be seen:
- Within seven days for most non-acute appointments
- Within 24 hours for most acute appointments
- Same-day under exceptional circumstances ONLY IF there is provider availability (providers are fully booked most days)
Please plan in advance for physicals, Periodic Health Assessments (PHAs), medical clearances and other routine care appointments. The turnaround time for prescription refills is
three business days.
Patients who come to the clinic
without an appointment will be screened by our staff and, if in need of urgent care, will have the following options:
- Be scheduled for the next available appointment
- Be provided a referral to be seen by the network, such as an urgent care facility, if no appointments are available
Other options include:
- Call the Military Health System (MHS) Nurse Advice Line: 1-800-TRICARE (874-2273) option 1
- Use the Doctor on Demand service (referral required for active duty)
Late Policy
Patients are asked to arrive on time for their scheduled appointments to provide adequate time for check-in to the clinic, verification of demographics and Other Health Insurance (OHI) and completion of all paperwork necessary for a valuable visit with your provider.
Any patient who arrives to the clinic more than 10 minutes after their scheduled appointment time is considered late. Please understand that being late for your appointment affects ALL following appointments for other patients. You will be offered the option to wait until the provider is free to see you later in the day, or to reschedule your appointment.
Appointment Cancellation Policy
An appointment is designated a "no-show" when a patient does not keep a scheduled appointment or cancels an appointment without sufficient notice to rebook the appointment slot.
If you would like to cancel your appointment with Medical Home Port or Military Medicine, please call 301-342-1506 no less than two hours before your appointed time.
If you would like to cancel your appointment with a specialty clinic (Optometry, Behavioral Health, Occupational Health, Visiting Specialists, etc.), please call 301-342-1506 no less than 24 hours before your appointed time.
Failure to cancel your appointment within the time frames above will result in you being designated as a “no-show.” "No shows" may be reported to your command.
"No-shows" create barriers to access to care for beneficiaries and are in violation of NHC Patuxent River's Patient Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River pursues timely Access to Care for all beneficiaries requiring appointments. When an appointment is reserved but "no-shows" instead of cancelling in a timely manner, this results in someone who needed an appointment not receiving medical care. The average cost of a clinic appointment is $104 per visit, and those dollars contribute to purchases for additional clinical services. Lastly, a "no-show" may also prevent an active duty service member from completing operational readiness requirements. Therefore, we appreciate if you would support Military Treatment Facilities' Access to Care efforts so the trusted, quality care you rely on will be there when you need it. Thank you.
Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River pursues timely Access to Care for all beneficiaries requiring appointments.
Referral Management
Our Referral Management center includes staff who process referrals within the Naval Health Clinic and to other Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) within the National Capital Region (NCR). They also review referrals to be sent to Humana Military for authorization for civilian care and treatment. Staff are available to assist in answering questions regarding status of a specialty referral, where a referral was sent (MTF or civilian), whether an authorization letter for civilian care has been mailed, etc.
Additional information about referrals and pre-authorizations is available at
tricare.mil.
Questions about your Referral?
If you have questions or need to change the provider on an approved civilian referral, call TRICARE East/Humana at 800-444-5445.
If you have questions on the status of a referral and it is not appearing in your
Humana Self-Service Account, please call the NCR IRMAC One Number at 855-227-6331.
Customer Service
The Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River Customer Service Department exists to help ensure that health care is delivered in a professional and courteous manner, respecting the dignity and rights of our patients and staff. We know that customers' perception about the quality of health care is affected greatly by the atmosphere in which the care is delivered, communication and the attitude of staff members during each customer encounter. We strongly believe that personalized attention and clinical excellence promote a positive customer experience.
The primary mission of the Customer Service Department is to strengthen, personalize and enhance the relationship between patients, their families, the community and staff, and to assist our staff in gaining awareness of patients’ perceptions of their health care experience. For more information, visit our
Customer Service page.