JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas (AFNS) -- The Air Force Medical Service is now registering children in its web-based secure messaging health application, MiCare.
MiCare allows beneficiaries to communicate securely and privately with their health care teams anywhere and anytime. The secure tool is now available to more than 70 percent of Air Force bases, with the expectation it will be fully implemented AF-wide by the end of the year.
Registering a child in MiCare is as easy as 1, 2, 3. Pediatric patients are registered via a request to the clinic by the parent or guardian after they have first registered themselves in MiCare. The medical home accepts the pediatric patient after the parent or guardian has enrolled the child to their MiCare account.
To enroll children, follow these three steps:
Step 1: Go to the MiCare website provided by your medical team and access the "Add a Family Member" link. Navigate to the "HOME" tab and select "Add a Family Member" to your account in the "Reminders" section.
Step 2: Fill out and complete the required information and click save. Please note you do not need to complete the "Health Insurance and Guarantor Information." After clicking "Save" you can add additional children to your MiCare account. Once you have entered all of your children, click "I'm Finished Adding Patients."
Step 3: To link your children to their medical home and primary care manager, or PCM, go to the "Link Patient to Doctors" tab. Your children's names should appear. Select the child you wish to add. Then, click "Add a Doctor." A search box will appear. Enter the last name of your child's PCM and click "Search." A dropdown list will come into view. When you find your child's PCM, click "Select this doctor." Now your child is linked to that PCM. Repeat step 3 to link additional children to their medical home and PCM. When you have finished selecting PCM's for all of your children, click "I'm Finished Adding Doctors." You are already enrolled, so there is no need to select a PCM for yourself.
Within three business days parents will receive a notification via e-mail, stating there is a secure message on their MiCare account. Once parents log-in to their MiCare account, they will see a message with confirmation that their child has been affiliated with the parent's PCM and medical home.
The parent is now able to contact their child's healthcare team with messages related to non-urgent pediatric issues, appointment requests and requests for a copy of a child's immunizations record or lab and medical test results.
For those parents or guardians who are not eligible for care at a military medical facility, but are the custodial parent of children who are eligible to participate in MiCare, contact 1-866-Relayme (735-2963) for information on how to enroll children into MiCare.
For more information on how to register in MiCare, visit www.afms.af.mil/MiCare, contact 1-866-Relayme (735-2963) or visit your local clinic.
(Dr. Anthony Oloni contributed to this story)