📄 Summary
The DoD (referred to herein as "the Department", "Department of War" or "DoW") is announcing a new demonstration project under the TRICARE program, titled the "TRICARE Demonstration Project for Pre-Hospital Blood Transfusion Ambulance Add-On Reimbursement," also called "The TRICARE PHBT Demonstration" or "PHBTD". This five-year demonstration will test the effectiveness of providing separate, unbundled add-on reimbursement to the TRICARE ambulance fee schedule for the cost of medically necessary blood products and professional services administered by authorized ambulance providers in a pre-hospital (ambulance, air or ground) setting. The goal is to evaluate whether this payment modification improves health outcomes for trauma patients, impacts total cost of care, enhances beneficiary access to care and network adequacy, and is a feasible and advisable permanent change to the TRICARE reimbursement methodology for ambulance services.
