MiCare facilitates patient care online

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Michelle Vickers
  • 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  Patients at Hurlburt Field's clinic are now able to safely and privately communicate with their health care team without ever picking up a phone by using Air Force-wide secure messaging.

Secure messaging is accessible to patients via a website called the MiCare Portal.

"The Relay Health MiCare Portal is a website that allows patients and their health care teams to communicate through electronic messages," said Capt. Katherine Loffer, group practice manager for 1st Special Operations Medical Group. "Before we acquired this system, patients could only talk to providers in person or over the telephone because email and text messages are not secure enough for transmittal of protected health information."

This system allows patients to message health care providers at their convenience from any location. The health care team will respond to patient messages within 72 hours, and patients will be notified by e-mail that they have new MiCare messages.

"Patients can send and receive non-urgent messages at their convenience without ever being placed on hold, playing phone tag or having to repeat concerns," Loffer said. "Additionally, in the future, a patient's whole health record will be available in their MiCare account, so they will be able to print their [immunization] record or look at past lab results at any time."

Patients will also be able to request prescription renewals and access doctor-approved health resources on a variety of topics. For members of the health care team, they will use MiCare to send out appointment reminders, give medical test and referral results and communicate clinic closures.

"The goal of the secure messaging system is to become the preferred method of communication outside of a regular medical appointment," Loffer said. "Not every health concern or question requires a visit to the clinic or even a phone call. By taking care of as many concerns as possible through secure messaging, our health care teams are able to concentrate on meeting the needs of all patients exactly when and how they need it."

To begin using the MiCare Portal, patients must register through their health care provider at Hurlburt's clinic.

"Because we will protect your health information at all costs, there is only one way to register for your MiCare account," Loffer said. "During your next primary care visit, you will be offered a chance to sign up. If you would like to begin using MiCare before your next primary care visit, please contact your health care team."

For more information on MiCare, please visit http://www.sg.af.mil/micare/ or contact your health care team at Hurlburt's Clinic.

(Information to this article also provided by Gary Pomeroy and Jon Stock, Air Force Surgeon General Public Affairs)