Providers collaborate to improve patient care

By Katherine Rosario, Lyster Army Health Clinic Public AffairsMarch 21, 2013

usa image
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT RUCKER, Ala. (March 21, 2013) -- Lyster Army Health Clinic and Humana Military hosted the first TRICARE Collaboration Event March 14 at the Aviation Museum to welcome community providers to Fort Rucker and give them a chance to meet the Lyster staff.

More than 80 community doctors, physicians and nursing staff attended the event that included presentations from TRICARE, the U.S. Army Combat Readiness/Safety Center and Col. James Laterza, Lyster commander.

"We rely on our network to get our Soldiers the specialty care they require and tonight is a great way to finally put faces to the names we see on patient reports from outside clinics," Laterza said.

Lyster sends patients to community providers for services such as cardiovascular, dermatology, gastroenterology, general surgery, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, otolaryngology and psychiatry.

Laterza spoke to the group of providers about the importance of referrals and complete results being sent back to the clinic.

"Being able to help a Soldier's primary care doctor determine whether he or she is capable of driving a car versus capable of operating an aircraft is an important part of the communication process. If we send back questions from results you send us, it's because we are trying to determine the best course of action for that Soldier," he said.

He thanked the providers for being an extension of Lyster and told them that the clinic's success is also their success.

"Our No. 1 job is taking care of patients and that's what motivates us at Lyster," Laterza said. "If we do quality right, everything else follows."