Madigan staff named top MEDCOM counselor

By Ms. Suzanne Ovel (Army Medicine)April 5, 2015

Madigan staff named top MEDCOM counselor
Mr. Rey Javier receives the Army Medical Department 2014 Beneficiary Counseling and Assistance Coordinator of the Year award on March 12, 2015, from Maj. Gen. Thomas R. Tempel, Jr., while Carol Javier and Col. Ramona Fiorey, Madigan Army Medical Cent... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

When Rey Javier works with a patient, he thinks nothing of going beyond what most might expect: he takes it upon himself to renew an 89-year-old's Medicare card, he seeks special mileage funding for a patient in a high-risk pregnancy, he helps a spouse who doesn't speak English to pay an enrollment fee. Not exactly the typical image one might have of someone who works in insurance.

While Javier is quick to point out that TRICARE is unlike other insurances in that it focuses on health benefits' capability instead of money, Javier's self-imposed levels of customer service made him stand out enough to be recognized at the U.S. Medical Command level.

In fact, Javier was named the 2014 Army Medical Department Beneficiary Counseling and Assistance Coordinator of the Year. Maj. Gen. Thomas R. Tempel, Jr., Western Regional Medical Command commanding general, presented Javier with his award at Madigan Army Medical Center on March 12, 2015, noting that Javier's exceptional work made him a representative of the entire Army Medical community.

"It wouldn't be possible if you didn't do it every day, and care so much for what you do," Tempel said.

Called "one of the most compassionate and customer-focused BCACs" in the command by his leadership, Javier got his start in providing compassionate medical care as an Army medic who also worked directly with the Washington National Guard's surgeon general. Although Javier had several job options when he left service, he said he purposely chose his position as a BCAC.

"You're helping and their issues are resolved by you or by the system, and you know that you helped do that," he said. As a BCAC, he primarily serves as an educator in teaching patients about their health benefits, whether he's educating Soldiers who are medically separating, Guard or Reserve Soldiers who are transitioning off of active duty orders, or patients who become eligible for Medicare. Javier and his counterparts are the in-house TRICARE experts at Madigan, and while they help answer questions about benefits, they also see themselves as advocates for patients who need a little extra help.

"If it's within our abilities, we help these folks out," said Javier.

Oftentimes, a little bit of help is just what's needed for patients who are missing a bit of knowledge about their health benefits.

While some patients feel they understand their medical benefits, Javier said, "They're just a little wrong, but they're wrong enough to cause them to have bills or just make wrong decisions or to waste money in the sense of buying insurance that they don't need."

His job is to fill in the missing information on what other options patients need to make the best health benefits decisions for themselves.

Javier lights up when he speaks about some special patients he's been able to help travel to get specialized medical care they need. For instance, he's helped send several Madigan babies to Stanford University, Calif., to get cardiology care through TRICARE.

"We fixed a lot of babies' hearts, who are alive and well today because of it," he said.

But when asked how he feels about being named the best BCAC in the Medical Command, Javier is quick to say that he is not more worthy of the award than any other of his coworkers in the Managed Care Division's TRICARE Operations Branch here. Several of his coworkers have received this and other high-level awards in the past, and Javier credits them for mentoring him and setting the standard of quality in his office.

As a whole, he says that what sets his office apart is that they simply care about patients.

"I think we all have the same mindset of just helping people," he said. "A lot of times, this help is saving lives."