Enhanced Appointment Scheduling at Naval Hospital Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (NNS) -- Naval Hospital (NH) Jacksonville, its hospital and branch health clinics (BHCs), is changing its approach to appointment scheduling, to offer more same-day urgent-care and better support patients' Medical Home Port teams.

At most locations, patients call the same number they always have-and a new greeting provides an option for each team. Knowing which team they're on helps patients quickly connect with an appointment clerk who will be physically located in their care team.

There are 14 teams in total across the command: Hospital (Family Medicine green, red, white and yellow teams; Internal Medicine blue team; Pediatrics purple team); BHC Albany olive team; BHC Jacksonville silver team; BHC Key West gold team; BHC Kings Bay black and maroon teams; and BHC Mayport (Family Medicine grey and orange teams; Pediatrics pink team).

"Each Medical Home Port care team is laser-focused on meeting all of their patients' preventive, routine and urgent care needs," said NH Jacksonville Commanding Officer Capt. Gayle Shaffer. "And by locating our appointing staff in the care teams, we get better real-time communication-which enhances our ability to make use of any openings in the schedule to offer same-day, urgent-care appointments."

The team-by taking a whole-person approach to health-aims for total health and wellness and is better positioned than an emergency room to manage urgent care. Urgent care includes things like a minor cut, sprain, migraine, earache, rising fever or urinary tract infection. (For emergencies, patients should call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.)

Each team includes an appointing clerk, front desk staff, medical assistants, corpsmen, nurses, a case manager and a pharmacist-led by the primary care managers (PCMs): physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Navy Medicine clinicians have the same education and training as their private-sector colleagues-and also have experience on battlefields, at sea and on humanitarian missions.

Patients can reach their team by secure email (for non-urgent issues) by signing up for Medical Home Port Online-on the command's website or at www.relayhealth.com.>
To get care or clinical advice at the hospital, BHC Kings Bay or BHC Mayport, patients call the appointment line at (904) 542-4677 or (800) 529-4677, weekdays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Patients with a referral from their PCM to a specialty clinic at the hospital can call the appointment line, weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. After-hours nurse advice is available-via the appointment line-on evenings, weekends and holidays.

At BHC Albany, patients now call (229) 639-7884/7886, weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
At BHC Jacksonville, patients call (904) 546-7094/7095, weekdays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m
At BHC Key West, patients now call (305) 293-4834/4850/4851, weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For all locations, after-hours nurse advice remains available-via the command appointment line at (800) 529-4677-on evenings, weekends and holidays.

NH Jacksonville's priority since its founding in 1941 is to heal the nation's heroes and their families. The command is comprised of the Navy's fourth largest hospital and five branch health clinics across Florida and Georgia. Of its patient population-about 163,000 active and retired military and their families-more than 57,000 are enrolled with primary care managers at one of its facilities. On average each day, a dedicated team of 2,500 military and civilian personnel sees 1,800 outpatients, admits 15 inpatients, cares for 80 people in the ER, performs 14 same-
day surgeries, fills 4,700 prescriptions, conducts 4,600 lab tests and delivers three babies. Additionally, up to eight percent of its active duty staff is deployed around the globe providing combat, humanitarian and disaster care.

For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.>
For more news from Naval Hospital Jacksonville, visit www.navy.mil/local/nhjax/.