79th Medical Wing turns to secure messaging Published March 30, 2012 By Aletha Frost 79 Medical WIng Joint Base Andrews, Md. -- Patients at the 779th and 579th Medical Group medical treatment facilities will be able to communicate securely and privately with their health care teams anywhere and anytime due to the Air Force-wide expansion of secure messaging. Secure messaging will be available to patients through what is known as the MiCare portal. The MiCare portal is built to facilitate secure, online communications between patients and their healthcare team. The goal of MiCare is to improve the quality of healthcare that patients receive and provide a mechanism for patients to have better access to their own health information at whatever time is most convenient to them. MiCare will streamline communication and access to information between office visits, reducing the frequency of office visits for some patients. It will also reduce reliance on telephone calls, providing more convenience for the patients, Air Force Medical Services officials said. "MiCare affords beneficiaries the convenience of direct online communication to their health care team without having to travel to the MTF and whenever they need to contact them," said Col. Rudolph Cachuela, 779th Medical Group commander. Benefits from MiCare's secure messaging tool include patient access anytime, anywhere to: · Communicate privately with their healthcare team online without waiting in phone trees or playing phone tag · Ask their healthcare team for advice about non-urgent symptoms · Receive medical test and lab results · Request medication renewals · Request a copy of immunization records · Access physician-approved health resource links at their convenience The healthcare team will be able to contact patients via MiCare to provide: · Appointment reminders · Follow up on a condition without requiring a trip to the MTF · Medication alerts/refill information · Medical test and referral results · Notifications regarding Flu vaccinations, school and sports physicals, MTF closure dates, etc. In addition, according to Air Force Medical Service officials, in the near future MiCare will offer patients secure access to their personal health record (PHR). The PHR feature will allow patients to capture medical information in a central, online location. Officials emphasized that this has not been an option for patients in the past, making it difficult for them to keep track of health information coming from different doctors, treatment locations, emergency providers and overseas stations. Since MiCare is a patient-driven service, the beneficiary must register with their MTF to have an active account. To find more information on MiCare visit www.sg.af.mil/MiCare.