Introducing MiCare, The Medical Group's new online secure messaging Published Sept. 4, 2013 By Capt. Louis Edwards 15th Medical Group JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- The 15th Medical Group (15 MDG) is excited to announce MiCare, the Military's online confidential secure messaging service will be available for patients here at Hickam starting September 23rd. 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. The clinic 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 at other bases 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, patients can request appointments with healthcare providers, get test results, request prescription refills, or ask their healthcare team medical questions via a secure electronic message that bypasses phone-trees, voicemail, and having to play phone tag. MiCare is currently set for secure messaging and will be adapted to include Personal Health Records at a later date. To register, patients should visit the 15 MDG to initiate the face-to-face registration process beginning September 23rd. Patients will need show their military identification card and provide basic information such as name, social security number, birthday and email address. An email will be sent for patients 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, so 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.