Reproductive & Women's Health Through PCS Moves and Deployment

Before you move: get your full records, not just a summary

Request your complete OB-GYN record — not just an after-visit summary — through the MHS GENESIS patient portal before you leave your current duty station. That means recent pap and imaging results, your actual contraceptive history (not just "on birth control"), and any specialist notes, since a new provider at your next duty station is starting from whatever's in that file, not from a conversation.

If you're mid-workup for something (an abnormal pap, an infertility evaluation, a fibroid being monitored), ask specifically what needs to happen next and by when, and get that in writing before you go — a move is exactly when a loose follow-up plan quietly falls apart.

Contraception and medication refills across a move

Time a refill to bridge the move itself — ask for enough supply to cover the gap between out-processing at one duty station and getting established at the next, rather than assuming it'll line up cleanly. Pharmacy formularies can differ slightly by military treatment facility, so if you're on a specific formulation that took time to get right, that's worth flagging early rather than discovering a substitution at pickup.

If you have a LARC (IUD or implant) placed, note the removal/replacement date somewhere you'll actually see it — it's an easy thing to lose track of across a PCS, and not every gaining facility has same-day availability for placement or removal.

Deployment and family planning

If pregnancy is a possibility you want to actively avoid or achieve around a deployment window, that's worth a direct conversation with your provider well ahead of time — timing a LARC, planning around a partner's deployment dates, or discussing fertility preservation if that's relevant to your situation.

Reproductive coercion and unplanned pregnancy don't pause for deployment, either — if you're navigating a pregnancy decision while a partner is deployed or unreachable, your provider and installation resources (chaplain, Military OneSource) can support you without requiring your partner's involvement.

Finding a new provider at your next duty station

Under TRICARE Prime, you'll typically need a referral from your new primary care manager to see a gynecologist off the military treatment facility if one isn't available on post; under TRICARE Select, you generally have more direct access to specialists. Either way, don't wait for a problem to start that process — establishing care early means there's already a relationship and a record if something comes up urgently later.