PCM and Referrals - Don’t Make My Mistake!

Although I have spent considerable time working on this guide, I continue to discover new things - even 11 months after retiring from the Navy.

Last week I was ready to schedule my first civilian annual physical. I figured they would be booked a couple months out. To my surprise, the doctor I selected, and is listed as my PCM at the TRICARE website, stated they weren’t taking new patients and what was displayed in TRICARE was irrelevant. I then had to spend considerable time to find a new PCM. Lesson learned…if I were to do this again, I would have signed up for TRICARE and immediately book my first appointment (read on for additional reasons you might want to do this).

A couple years before retiring, I received my PCM referrals and began seeing a specialist (once or twice a year). As part of my preparations to retire I asked a medical representative what to do about my specialist care - I was told good to go, just follow-up with my civilian PCM when I had my first annual appointment a year from then. Not so good advice as I just discovered that all your referrals (no matter what the stated date is) expire the day you retire. I am not thrilled to pay out of pocket for my specialist appointment, but luckily it is not as expensive as I had envisioned. This is the second reason you should make a PCM appointment post-retirement sooner than later - establish new referrals to continue specialist care.

I have added a note in Chapter 1 to make an appointment with your new civilian PCM and not wait until your next annual is due.