San Diego Children's Hospital or Balboa?

[Merri]

I have a question, I hope this is in the right spot! We are moving to San Diego, CA, and I was wondering about pediatric healthcare there. Balboa is the big military hospital there, right? Does anyone know if they have pediatric subspecialties there, (such as pediatric cardiologists, etc) or do you go to San Diego Children's for specialized care? I like to know as much as possible ahead of time, and Tricare's website is not very specific, and I didn't find much on Balboa's website either. Thanks!

Im pretty sure that Balboa has subspecialities.. if you want to be seen off base, im sure you know the drill to get the referral.. but my girls are seen at Childrens and theyre very nice there

[Toni]

Yes Balboa has specialty doctors.

[Trey]

If your child has a problem, they will probably let you be seen there (at Balboa) but when my son was born, they were full and not taking any new patients in Pediatrics.. HTH..

[Merri]

Originally Posted by Rileysmom If your child has a problem, they will probably let you be seen there (at Balboa) but when my son was born, they were full and not taking any new patients in Pediatrics.. HTH..

That would suit me just fine, I would rather have my daughter seen by the specialists at San Diego children's, I just didn't know if it was possible. Thanks!

[Amber V]

The only thing I can tell you is that overall Balboa is a very nice hospital. They were redoing labor and delivery when we left which is good because that area sucked. But I never had anyother complaints about the hospital it self.

I've always had (until coming here to Japan) civilian care for my kids. We only took them to Balboa if TriCare said we had to.

[mary79]

my son had reflux when he was little,they sent him to childrens hospital.

my daughter is seen at chula vista childrens and i love her doctor same one my brothers had. and i know tricare is covered by them or vice versa

[Ste9]

Balboa has a subspecialty peds clinic. You don't have to be seen at the Balboa peds clinic to be seen at the subspecialty clinic. My 5 year old has congenital emphysema, bronchomalacia, laryngomalacia, asthma, reflux, and allergies. He's seen at Mirimar FPC for his primary care and has been seen at subspecialty peds for his other care. He's seen the pulmo doc since he was 3 months old, the cardiologist before he was born for an abnormal heartbeat in utero and he's also seen the allergist, ENT and GI doctors at Balboa. Some of the docs who see patients at Balboa actually come over from Children's hospital. When they see you through Balboa you have no co-pay or out of pocket costs. We've had wonderful care at Balboa, minus our one NIGHTMARE trip to the ER.