Medical information

Clinic
The Beale Clinic is located at 15301 Warren Shingle Road on a gentle hillside near base housing. The clinic's primary mission is to support the worldwide operational readiness and high altitude mission of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing. They provide comprehensive health care, physiological and environmental support, and promote health education and wellness to the Beale Air Force Base community. The Beale Clinic is accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and is dedicated to providing support to active duty members of base tenant organizations and their family members. This outpatient clinic consists of both the 9th Medical Operations and 9th Medical Support Squadrons that provide primary care services with aerospace medicine and limited ancillary (e.g., pharmacy, laboratory, radiology) capabilities. No inpatient or emergency services are available and minimal specialty services exist. However, ambulance services are available by calling 911 or (530) 634-4444 on base. All other care is arranged through referrals to neighboring military hospitals or the TRICARE network. The clinic's range of services include Family Practice/Primary Care, Women's Health, Pediatrics, Flight Medicine, Dental, Life Skills Support, Family Advocacy, Laboratory, Pharmacy, Optometry, Physical Therapy, Public Health, Radiology, Health and Wellness and Immunizations. The 9th Medical Group strives to provide outstanding customer service. If the service provided does not meet or exceed your expectations, please reach out to our Patient Advocate at (530) 634-2941 so we can ensure we continue to provide the high quality care you deserve.

Ambulance Services
Emergency ambulance service is available 24-hour-a-day to respond to on-base illnesses and injuries and is accessed through the 911 telephone system. After hours, urgent or emergency medical care is provided by local civilian health care facilities in collaboration with 9th Medical Group personnel. Ambulance service personnel also serve as the contact point for after-hours access to non-emergency medical care. They, through coordination with your Primary Care Manager, arrange for preauthorization of care provided outside of the 9th Medical Group. The on-call PCM (a doctor or physician assistant) can be reached through the ambulance dispatch staff by calling (530) 634-4444. 

Appointments
The Central Appointments Office books appointments for the Family Practice, Pediatrics, Flight Medicine, Women's Health and Optometry clinics. Dialing (530) 634-2941 accesses them. The appointment telephone lines are available from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. 

Open Access
Open Access is a concept in medical appointment scheduling which enables us to provide the right care to the right patient at the right time. Open Access means if you need an appointment today, you will be treated today! This emphasizes the importance of Self Care and use of our telephone nurse triage service. Acute or urgent illnesses or injuries can be addressed by calling the Central Appointment office for a same-day appointment with Family Practice/Primary Care, Pediatrics or Flight Medicine. The clinic does not have a formal sick call, nor do they encourage walk-ins. Open Access is designed to handle acute, singular medical concerns as the concerns occur. Any issue that can be addressed routinely or multiple concerns may be better served by scheduling a routine or wellness appointment and may require multiple visits. To facilitate same-day service, please call for an appointment as early in the day as possible. Nurses are available to assist you in determining the level of care you need.
 
Outpatient Care
Outpatient medical care is delivered using the Primary Care Manager team concept. A PCM is the leader of a team of five medical professionals who provide medical and preventive care for TRICARE Prime enrollees (active duty, retired, dependent family members). The PCM team consists of a provider, a nurse, two medical technicians and one administrative technician who are responsible for managing the medical needs of approximately 1,500 enrolled beneficiaries. Other significant responsibilities include conducting nurse-managed clinics for minor illnesses under the supervision of the PCM, performing patient triage (e.g., determining the severity of an illness and need for an appointment to receive medical care vice self care), administering medications and managing medical records. The Air Force recently mandated PCM teams be grouped into Primary Care Elements to lesson the impact on patients who are unable to visit their PCM because of a temporary absence (e.g., TDY, leave or deployment). The 9th Medical Group currently has one PCE consisting of six PCM teams as outlined below: 

1. The Family Practice Clinic provides comprehensive primary care services to all age groups, including children. Family Practice physicians have a broad array of skills that enables them to offer services to a population of diverse demographics ranging from Pediatrics to Geriatrics. All of our Family Practice physicians are board certified and are qualified to treat pediatric patients; unless a child has a special need that is outside their scope of care. 

2. The Pediatric PCM team provides comprehensive services to family members from birth to 11 years of age. Currently, all children less than two years of age and children with special medical needs are enrolled to Pediatrics. The Pediatric Clinic addresses a wide range of medical issues, from the simple (e.g., sports physicals) to the complex (e.g., Synagis for babies at high risk for developing complications from RSV bronchiolitis). The clinic stresses parental education as this is a very important aspect of pediatrics. Parents may call with telephone consults/requests for information for the PCM team. These are answered within 24 hours unless triaged by a nurse to a more urgent category. 

3. The Flight Medicine PCM team serves the needs of our active duty flight crew members, air traffic controllers, special operational duty personnel, special occupational exposure personnel, select support personnel and associated family members. In addition to treating patients and providing preventive and self-care guidance, Flight Medicine responsibilities include responding to in-flight emergencies, performing shop safety visits/inspections, functioning as medical experts/consultants to all aerospace medicine duties, staffing two year-round deployed locations, maintaining four hours of flight time per month and augmenting Safety and Accident Investigation Boards as needed. 

Women's Health
Our Women's Health Clinic provider performs referral and consultative services for the PCM teams in the specialty area of Women's Health, including gynecology care such as Pap smears and clinical breast examinations. Any obstetrical care will be referred by your PCM to the local civilian healthcare network through the TRICARE office. 

Physical Therapy
The Physical Therapy Clinic offers comprehensive physical therapy treatment to referred patients and consultative services for the PCM teams. They can be reached at (530) 634-4826. 

Life Skills Support Clinic
Services are available for active duty personnel only. Non-active duty beneficiaries can receive these services through the TRICARE network in the local community. The Life Skills Support Clinic offers evaluation and short-term treatment of depression, anxiety, combat stress/post-traumatic stress disorder, and individual and family counseling, psychological assessment, group therapy, stress and depression management, substance abuse evaluations and social work services. Alcohol/Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment services are available and offer evaluation for alcohol abuse/dependency as well as alcohol/drug abuse prevention education. Active duty personnel requiring inpatient services may be referred to Travis Air Force Base, Point Loma Naval Medical Center or the TRICARE network. Family Advocacy offers short-term marital therapy, family maltreatment prevention counseling, New Parent Support Program (for patents with children under three) and a broad range of family related classes and educational presentations to active duty and their family members. Patients may self-refer by calling (530) 634-3240 or be referred by their PCM, commander or chaplain. Further information may be obtained by calling (530) 634-3420. 

Dental Clinic
The Dental Clinic provides general dentistry services, with some limited surgical capabilities to include intravenous conscious sedation of patients. The dental staff provides dental care for active duty members. Retirees and dependents are limited to space available care only. Dental sick call is at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday. For emergencies during duty hours, please call the dental clinic directly at extension (530) 634-4781/4782. 

After hours, on weekends and holidays/ down days, contact ambulance services at (530) 634-4444 for assistance. Active duty family members can obtain dental care through enrollment in the TRICARE dental plan administered by United Concordia; call (800) 866-8499 for more information. Retirees can obtain dental care through enrollment in the TRICARE Retiree Dental Program; call (888) 366-3260 for more information. Dental questions may be directed to the Dental appointment desk at (530) 634-4781. 

Optometry
The Optometry Clinic treats most acute eye problems, to include eye injuries, diseases and infections (e.g., "pink" eye). The clinic supports the War Fighter/Aviator PRK Laser Eye Surgery and Aviator Soft Contact Lens Programs plus provides "frame of choice" spectacles, gas mask inserts and specialized high altitude inserts for active duty members. Retirees with a current prescription may order spectacles. Eye examinations are available for active duty and TRICARE Prime enrollees. Others are treated on a space-available basis. Other services include flight line driver's license color vision tests, flying class physical eye exams, and DoDMERB physical eye exams. Appointments are scheduled through the Central Appointment office at (530) 634-2941. Retirees and their family members not enrolled in TRICARE Prime are seen on a space-available basis. 

Public Health
This element of the aerospace medicine flight is made up of disease prevention and education specialists and immunization technicians who manage Community Health, Force Health Management, and Immunization Programs. Their mission is to prevent disease, whether you are at Beale Air Force Base or a deployed location. They provide disease and health education, issue fitted ear plugs, visit workplaces to ensure workers' health is properly protected, medical entomology (e.g., monitor mosquito and tick populations), investigate potential occupational illnesses, educate deploying members on the health threats of their destination, inspect all public and food facilities on base and provide training to food handlers. Other significant responsibilities include communicable disease prevention and control (e.g., STDs, TB, environmental (mold/lead), HIV), 4T profile management and medical clearances for active duty. For more information on the services provided by Public Health, please call (530) 634-2433. 

Immunization Clinic
The Immunization Clinic provides a full spectrum of vaccinations to active duty, retired military and dependents. They follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and schedules to ensure vaccines are administered safely and correctly. Immunization programs include maintenance of immunizations (e.g., tetanus, TB skin testing) and well-baby, allergy, specialty (e.g., smallpox) and flu program immunizations. PPD tests (TB tests) are not performed on Thursdays. Please bring your shot records and any records for your family to the Beale Clinic for in-processing. Contact the immunization clinic directly for answers to your immunization questions at (530) 634-4740. 

Health and Wellness
The Health and Wellness Center provides a comprehensive evaluation of health and fitness levels. They have a wide variety of classes, pamphlets and videos that help active duty military, retirees and their family members make healthier lifestyle choices through courses that encourage healthy eating, making correct food choices, weight management, exercise, curtailing tobacco use and stress management. Their programs, measurements and classes are designed to increase awareness, educate, motivate and provide feedback on how participants can develop healthier lifestyles. They also provide information about smoking cessation, improving your fitness level, healthy cooking, lowering cholesterol, diabetes education, free weight training, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and men's and women's health. The staff can be reached at (530) 634-3500. These services are available to all active duty, retirees, family members, and qualified base civilian personnel. The HAWC is located in the main base (cantonment) area at 6101 B Street.

Pharmacy
The pharmacy fills more than 10,000 prescriptions per month or 500 per day with an average wait time of 15 minutes for prescriptions entered by 9th Medical Group providers. This can take slightly longer for multiple prescriptions or those from civilian providers. Prescription service is available for all eligible beneficiaries. Please ensure you check in at the turn-in window to activate the fill process. The pharmacy may dispense up to a 90-day supply of chronic medication with refills for one year if requested by your provider and allowed by law. The pharmacy is open Monday through Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Prescriptions from civilian providers will be honored if the prescribed medication is on our formulary. The Beale Clinic pharmacy stocks all items on the DoD Uniform Formulary as well as many other medications. The formulary can be reviewed on-line at http://www.pharmacyonesource.com/fos/formulary/beale/beneficiary  
or ask for a copy at the turn-in window. Prescriptions are refilled by using the pharmacy's 24-hour telephone refill service at (530) 634-2859 or 1 (877) 471-4768. Refill requests called in before noon will be ready the next duty day by noon; requests after noon will be ready in two duty days by noon. Questions may be directed to the pharmacy staff at (530) 634-4818/4397. 

Laboratory
The laboratory is accredited by the College of American Pathologists. Limited laboratory services offered encompass most routine procedures used to treat a normal healthy population and most acute care scenarios. Many specialized tests can be performed through military reference laboratories; this averages 7-10 days for receipt of results unless the provider determines a more urgent response is needed. TRICARE network laboratories are used when other limitations dictate (e.g., specimen viability, transportation time, etc.). Questions may be directed to the laboratory staff at (530) 634-4807/4677. 

Radiology
Diagnostic imaging services provided include routine radiological examinations, ultrasound studies and mammograms. All reports are interpreted off-site by Travis Air Force Base radiologists through a teleradiology program. This averages 24 to 72 hours for receipt of results unless the provider determines a more urgent response is needed. Ultrasound and routine radiological exams are performed Mondays through Fridays with mammograms performed two days per week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. While Beale Clinic imaging services are limited, the Diagnostic Imaging technicians and Mammography Program are registered/accredited by the American College of Radiology. Questions may be directed to the diagnostic imaging staff at (530) 634-4810. 

TRICARE Operations and Patient Administration
Questions about health benefits should be directed to the TRICARE Service Center representatives, located at the 9th Medical Group, Beale Air Force Base, in Rm. 120. They are available 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily to assist you with claims information as well as answer question about your health care options under the TRICARE program. A Beneficiary Counseling and Assistance Coordinator is located at the Beale Clinic that can help you make informed decisions regarding your healthcare needs. The BCAC can be reached at (530) 634-4817. Questions about the Family Member Dental Plan should be directed to United Concordia at (800) 891-8499. The Patient Administration office is located in room 226. They can assist you with items such as travel arrangements for medical TDY appointments, obtaining copies of your medical records, in/out-processing information as well as an array of other administrative functions. Questions can be referred to the Patient Administration office at (530) 634-4001. The Referral Management Center is considered a "one stop shop" for all specialty-care referrals and consultations. The RMC is conveniently located in Rm. 238 across from the Patient Administration window for all patients to access. The RMC provides patients with advice concerning referral and treatment options, and answers questions patients may have concerning their care. Questions can be referred to the Patient Administration office at (530) 634-3542.