341st MDG presents: MiCare secure messaging Published Aug. 1, 2013 By 341st Medical Group MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. -- The Air Force Medical Service is excited to begin patient registrations for MiCare, the Military's online confidential secure messaging service. This system has been shown to significantly reduce the number of phone calls between patients and providers, increase patient satisfaction and save time for the medical office staff and the patient. AFMS aims to enroll as many patients as possible into MiCare and utilize secure messaging as the primary form of communication between patients and their healthcare teams. Patients currently enrolled in MiCare are already talking about the ease, accessibility and benefits of this Internet-based service. One MiCare enrollee said, "it is always empowering to be able to communicate via the Internet about routine health issues - and can very well prevent visits to the clinic...". Another enrolled patient said MiCare "will answer lots of questions and save so much time for both doctors and patients." On MiCare, you can request appointments with healthcare providers, get test results, request prescription refills or ask a healthcare team medical questions via a secure electronic message that bypasses phone-trees, voicemail and phone tag. MiCare is currently set for secure messaging and will be adapted to include Personal Health Records in the future. To register, visit the base clinic to initiate the face-to-face registration process. A military identification card will need to be provided, as well as basic information such as name, social security number, birthday and email address. An email will be sent to finish enrollment and confidential messages may begin. MiCare has been designed to support patients and healthcare teams and will be implemented Air Force-wide. Once registered, a patient will remain in the system--no matter where the Air Force takes them. For more information, visit http://www.afms.af.mil/micare.