DiLorenzo Pentagon Health Clinic Acute Care

If you are experiencing an emergency, call 911 or immediately go to the nearest emergency department.

Acute care is set to provide state of the art medical services to military and civilian employees in a professional and customer friendly atmosphere.

Who Needs Acute Care?

Patients showing symptoms to include

• Obvious trauma
• Dizziness/Lightheadedness/Visual disturbances
• Chest pain
• Sudden weakness on one side
• Work-related injuries
• Severe allergic reactions
• Respiratory distress
• Suicidal/Homicidal ideation
• Severe pain/Uncontrolled bleeding
• Severe headaches
• Nausea/Vomiting/Diarrhea/Fever

How long will I have to wait?

• Wait time will fluctuate according to your acuity and the acuity of the patients before and after you, and the number of patients waiting to be seen.
• Patients with the highest acuity will be seen before a patient with a lower acuity level.
• The acuity level of patients is determined by the Triage Nurse and then reassessed by the Acute Care physician Transporting to National Capitol Region facilities.
• If the physician determines that your condition would be best treated at a facility with advanced capabilities, the option to transport is activated.
• Emergency patients are transported to the closest facility that is best equipped to provide the care needed. 
• For patients that require further care but are not emergent this facility will arrange transport via a civilian ambulance service to ATAMMC or WRNMMC. If the physician determines that the patients' condition is stable enough they may opt to send the patient with a non-medical person from their duty section or friend.

Who do I follow-up with?

The Acute Care physician is not a Primary care provider therefore after being seen in Acute Care all follow-up care should be made with your Primary Care physician. If you do not know who that provider is, feel free to ask one of the technicians at the front desk.

Urgent Care

Urgent Care services treat non-life-threatening health issues that require immediate attention, such as sprains, the flu, colds, back pain, skin rashes and other common illnesses.

If you’re unsure about whether you need urgent care, contact the Military Health System Nurse Advice Line to speak to a registered nurse. Visit MHSNurseAdviceLine.com for web chat and video chat, or dial 1-800-TRICARE (874-2273).

Emergency Care

If you are experiencing a life-threatening medical situation (including mental health emergencies), call 911 or immediately go to the nearest emergency department. 

Emergency care services treat life-threatening medical issues such as threats to your life, limbs, sight, or safety.

To learn about how TRICARE covers emergency care, visit the TRICARE Emergency Care page.