66 MDS encourages secure messaging use Published March 23, 2016 By Mark Wyatt 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- Patients seen by the 66th Medical Squadron here are able to request and provide information to their health care team through a patient portal called MiCare Secure Messaging. Since the Air Force Medical Service first introduced it in 2012, MiCare has allowed for a more secure exchange of health information compared to using a personal email account. "All patients serviced at the clinic are able to send a variety of secure messages that will be responded to within 24 hours," said Staff Sgt. Michelle Terrell, 66 MDS aerospace medical technician and local MiCare administrator. "MiCare allows patients to request their next appointment, request medication renewals, receive test and lab results, communicate with a health care team about non-urgent symptoms or request a copy of their immunization records." Terrell stresses that messages sent via secure messaging must be for non-urgent matters only. To protect information communicated via MiCare, Terrell said that all patients, staff members and providers are required to register and enter a unique login name and password to access and use the site. "Once registered, only patients and health care team members have access to MiCare messages," she said. "In addition, access to a patient's inbox can be limited to designated practice members. This flexibility ensures the highest level of confidentiality." She also highlighted the many other benefits of using MiCare. "Among the many purposeful reasons for using MiCare include receiving written medical advice that might be forgotten when given verbally and close monitoring of health issues without the inconvenience of traffic, parking or lost days at work," Terrell said. "There is also a web-based application for receiving patient education on a variety of health-related topics." Terrell strives to enroll as many patients as possible into MiCare for the primary purpose of communication between patients and their health care teams. To register, patients must first visit the Hanscom clinic to initiate a face-to-face registration process. Patients are required to show their military identification card and provide basic information such as name, social security number, birthday and email address. An email will then be sent for patients to finish enrollment and confidential messages may begin. Personnel assigned to a geographically separated units may contact Terrell for assistance with registration. For those with children, pediatric patients registered via request to the clinic by the parent or guardian after they have first registered themselves in MiCare. For more information on the three-step registration process, visit http://www.airforcemedicine.af.mil/MiCare. Registration is open to all patients serviced by the Hanscom clinic. For more information, visit www.afms.af.mil/micare or call Terrell at 781-225-6789.