10 U.S.C. § 1077a — Access to military medical treatment facilities and other facilities

(a) Urgent care. (1) The Secretary of Defense must ensure that military medical treatment facilities, at locations the Secretary considers appropriate, provide urgent-care services for members of the armed forces and covered beneficiaries every day until 11:00 p.m. (2) In an area without a military medical treatment facility covered by paragraph (1), the Secretary must ensure that members of the armed forces and covered beneficiaries can use urgent-care clinics through the TRICARE program's health-care provider network. (3) A covered beneficiary may use urgent-care services without getting approval in advance. (4) The Secretary must do all of the following: (A) Publish information about changes in access to urgent care under the TRICARE program: (i) on the Department's main publicly available Internet website; and (ii) on the main publicly available Internet website of each military medical treatment facility. (B) Ensure that the same information is available on the publicly available Internet website of each current managed-care support contractor that has created a health-care provider network under the TRICARE program. (b) Nurse advice line. The Secretary must ensure that the Department's nurse advice line directs covered beneficiaries who are seeking care to the source of the most appropriate level of health care needed to treat their medical conditions. This includes the urgent-care services described in subsection (a). This section does not define "covered beneficiary," "managed care support contractor," "health care provider network," "TRICARE program," or "urgent care." (c) Primary-care clinics. (1) The Secretary must ensure that primary-care clinics at military medical treatment facilities are available to members of the armed forces and covered beneficiaries during the hours set under paragraph (2). Those hours must include any expanded hours described in paragraph (2)(B). (2)(A) The Secretary must set the hours when each primary-care clinic at a military medical treatment facility is available to members of the armed forces and covered beneficiaries. The Secretary must base the hours on: (i) the facility's needs for meeting the access standards under the TRICARE Prime program; and (ii) how members and covered beneficiaries use primary care at that facility. (B) The hours set under subparagraph (A) must include expanded hours beyond regular weekday business hours and during the weekend if, under subparagraph (A), the Secretary determines that the facility has enough demand for those expanded primary-care hours. This section does not define "access standards," "TRICARE Prime program," or "primary care utilization patterns."