TRICARE expanded mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) services, adding intensive outpatient programs and expanding options for opioid treatment. In addition to other improvements, this expansion improves access to care and increases opportunities for mental health and SUD treatment. It also makes it easier for beneficiaries to access the right level of care for their health and wellness needs.

These new services round out existing TRICARE covered treatments, including:

• Emergency and non-emergency inpatient hospitalization

• Psychiatric residential treatment center care for children

• Inpatient/residential SUD care

• Partial hospitalization

• Outpatient and office-based mental health and SUD treatment

“If someone does well in inpatient psychiatric care and no longer requires 24-hour care, they could step down a level. Their options may be a partial hospital program, an intensive outpatient program at six hours a day, or outpatient treatment with a TRICARE-authorized provider,” said Dr. Patricia Moseley, a senior policy analyst for military child and family behavioral health at the Defense Health Agency. “Now we have a continuum of care to meet our beneficiaries’ needs.”