SCREENING
Medical screening for overseas duty is required for both active duty personnel and their dependents prior to transfer from their detaching command. Decisions on overseas suitability are referred to Naval Hospital Yokosuka’s OSS committee in coordination with the Senior Medical Officer (SMO) at BHC Chinhae. Their guidelines can be found at https://goo.gl/7bJSCQ
Military treatment facilities
Branch Health Clinic (BHC) Chinhae on Fleet Activities Chinhae is the closest DoD medical facility to Busan and Chinhae and is a satellite clinic of the U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka, Japan. The clinic is staffed by a Family Medicine Physician and an Independent Duty Corpsman and four other Navy Corpsmen. It provides outpatient medical care (adult, pediatric and OB/Gyn) to the active duty service members, their dependents, retirees, civilian contractors, and Americans working abroad in Korea.
All active duty Navy service members stationed in Busan must be enrolled at BHC Chinhae. Dependents in Busan are typically enrolled in TRICARE Overseas Prime Remote, which allows them to see a local Korean physician for primary care, but some families choose to enroll at BHC Chinhae or seek periodic care at BHC Chinhae for certain needs and second opinions.
For more information about BHC Chinhae, see their website at
https://goo.gl/7bJSCQ or call at: 011-82-055-540- 5415 from the U.S. and 055-540-5415 from Korea.
All active duty Navy service members stationed in Busan must be enrolled at BHC Chinhae. Dependents in Busan are typically enrolled in TRICARE Overseas Prime Remote, which allows them to see a local Korean physician for primary care, but some families choose to enroll at BHC Chinhae or seek periodic care at BHC Chinhae for certain needs and second opinions.
For more information about BHC Chinhae, see their website at https://goo.gl/7bJSCQ or call at: 011-82-055-540- 5415 from the U.S. and 055-540-5415 from Korea
For clinical issues that cannot be addressed at the Korean TRICARE-affiliated facilities or BHC Chinhae, referrals can be made to the Wood Army Medical Clinic on Camp Walker at U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Daegu in Daegu or the Brian Allgood Army Community Hospital on U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Yongsan in Seoul.
The Brian Allgood Army Community Hospital is the primary hospital and clinic in Seoul. The Camp Humphreys Army Health Clinic is the primary Hospital and clinic in Pyeongtaek. Patients must be enrolled in the clinic via TRICARE and assigned a primary care provider prior to scheduling appointments.
The U.S. Military central appointment line for the entire Korean peninsula is DSN: 315-737-2273. For more information about the U.S. Army medical facilities, see their websites at https://goo.gl/fyHorr and https://goo.gl/7KY0QR
International SOS and Tricare
International SOS (ISOS) is the TRICARE-affiliated service that coordinates health care overseas in the ROK. TRICARE Overseas Prime Remote provides beneficiaries with the benefits of TRICARE Overseas Prime in designated overseas locations not supported by a local Military Treatment Facility, like in Busan. Active Duty service members and their eligible family members must enroll in the program. Medical care is provided to beneficiaries through a network of credentialed host nation civilian providers in Busan managed by International SOS.
You can find more information about this program at https://goo.gl/Il5AMy or call an ISOS representative at COMM from Korea: 080-429-0880.
You can contact a TRICARE representative for information on the health benefit options, which cover dependents within the Republic of Korea.
The Brian Allgood Army Community Hospital in Seoul has a TRICARE office at DSN: 315-737- 1433 and BHC Chinhae at DSN: 315-762-5415 can provide guidance on benefits.
KOREAN MEDICAL FACILITIES
Many of the Korean hospitals in Busan maintain an international clinic with reception, appointment booking and translation services in English, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and other languages. Many of the specialty physicians are U.S. or British trained and fluent or conversant in English.
In Busan, inpatient and specialty care is provided at one of four TRICARE-approved and accredited local Korean hospitals.
• Busan St. Mary’s Hospital (Sung Mo)
COMM from U.S.: 011-82-51-933-7061
• Pusan National University Hospital
International Health Center
COMM from U.S.: 011-82-10-2799-7031
• Dong-Eui Medical Center
International Medical Center
COMM from U.S.: 011-82-51-850-8941
• Ilsin Christian Hospital
COMM from U.S.: 011-82-51-630-0678
Emergency care can be provided at any of the above-listed facilities. The emergency telephone number for an ambulance in the Republic of Korea is 119. There is no need to put an area code when dialing, even if calling from a cell phone. Translators are normally available in over a dozen languages, including English.
However, if no translator is available when you call, you can also dial the Emergency Medical Information Center (EMIC) at 1339 and they will interpret for you. EMIC has a bilingual staff that speaks Korean plus English, Japanese, or Chinese to help if you are having trouble communicating with Korean medical staff while you are at a clinic or hospital.
If you receive care at any local Korean medical facilities, we recommended that you request documentation of your care and ensure that it is properly entered into your military medical record. You can bring any copies of Korean medical records to the BHC Chinhae to be entered in your records.
Please check for the most current information on TRICARE-approved providers at https://goo.gl/YkC3bF
Pharmacies
The closest full-service military pharmacy to Busan and Chinhae is in the Wood Army Medical Clinic on Camp Walker at USAG Daegu in Daegu at DSN: 315-737-4803. BHC Chinhae also maintains a small pharmacy, and can fill up to a 3 month supply of most medications at no cost to you, if you have been seen as a patient at the BHC. We recommend you give BHC Chinhae Pharmacy a week’s notice before needing a refill to ensure a sufficient amount of the needed medication.
You can have your prescriptions filled locally in Busan, but you will pay out of pocket to be reimbursed by TRICARE. You must fill out a DD Form 2642 and submit it to the TRICARE claims department, along with a copy of your prescription (in English) and your receipt (in English or Korean). The reimbursement process can take up to 2 months for a payment check to be mailed to your address.
If you have questions about how to submit a reimbursement claim, please contact a TRICARE or ISOS representative. If you need help finding a local pharmacy, please check the TRICARE website and search for Pharmacy at https://goo.gl/YkC3bF.
Express Scripts is a mail-order pharmacy for TRICARE. All medications are provided at no cost if the medication itself is covered by TRICARE. You must create an account on the site and follow the procedures to have the prescribing physician submit the prescription to Express Scripts.
For more information about this program, please see the website at https://goo.gl/ApVNI4 or https://goo.gl/GqiAMV.
EYE CARE
We recommend that all service members come with two pairs of eyeglasses or adequate contact lenses, gas mask inserts (command requirement) and a written prescription for your eyeglasses in case you need to replace them while in the Republic of Korea. Glasses and contact lenses can be purchased on the local economy at prices comparable to the U.S.
The U.S. Army has an optometry clinic near the Wood Army Medical Clinic at Camp Walker on USAG Daegu in Daegu at DSN: 315-737-4709 and USAG Yongsan in Seoul at DSN: 315-737-1464.
Service members and dependents can make appointments for routine optometry care, including diabetic eye screenings at either USAG Daegu or USAG Yongsan. USAG Daegu provides 2 days of on-site full-scope optometry with same or next day fabrication of glasses and inserts bi-annually at BHC Chinhae. Appointments should be made through the BHC Chinhae.
Additional optometric resources for dependents are available through local Korean TRICARE-affiliated optometry offices via ISOS and TRICARE Overseas Prime Remote. You can find more information about this program at https://goo.gl/Il5AMy or call an ISOS representative at COMM from Korea: 080- 429-0880.
