MiCARE Provides Faster Care Published Oct. 29, 2015 By Kevin M. Hymel Air Force Surgeon General Public Affairs FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- Captain Jennifer Varney likes to come to work early. As a Family Nurse Practitioner and Family Health Flight Commander at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, she arrives at the base’s Family Health Clinic around 0500 and checks her computer’s MiCARE site for any overnight patient emails. If a patient requested a refill on their medications, she can fill it and let them know. If someone’s results have come back from the lab, she can email them the results. If someone requested an appointment, she can forward it to a technician to schedule a time. Varney likes the convenience of MiCARE both for her patients and for her. “I can get my work done and still contact my patients,” she said, which is better than calling them before sunrise. “I’m happy, they’re happy.” MiCARE, a secure on-line messaging service between patients and their health care team, allows patients to renew subscriptions, request appointments, receive test and lab results, communicate online with healthcare professionals about non-urgent symptoms, request a copy of their immunization records, and access a large digital library of patient education materials. Varney’s use of MiCARE does not end in the morning. While she sees patients, her technicians continually check the site and either respond or seek Varney if the online patient needs her to reply quickly. Varney encourages her patients to use MiCARE. “We have brochures (from AMFS),” she said. “I tell them, ‘for convenience, it’s the way to go.’” Before MiCARE, patients would phone into clinic and responses could take up to three duty days. With MiCARE, patients hear back within one duty day. Her efforts must be working. So far 9,300 people have enrolled in MiCARE at Maxwell, 62 % of the 15,000 the total patients. The patients are Active Duty, retirees and family dependents in and around the area. For college students some two hours away, Varney uses MiCARE to save them a long ride for a simple prescription renewal. “It’s a good mix,” said Varney. To make enrollment easier, the clinic now has a free-standing computer kiosk in the lobby where people can sign up and receive instant access to MiCARE. Patients are prompted to answer a series of security questions that only they would know. To improve patient access to care, by mid-November, Maxwell AFB will implement patient-initiated web visits. Patients will be able to answer a checklist of symptoms in different categories, like mild colds or injuries, and send their answers to their provider. Nurses like Varney will then decide what course of action to take. “I can look at it and decide if they need a face-to-face visit or if I should prescribe medications.” Varney says her patients like MiCARE for the timeliness of her responses. If a patient calls for an appointment it can take up to two weeks to see them, with MiCARE a patient can explain their situation and get a response in one duty day. “Patients like that part of it,” she said. Healthcare providers can spend more time with patients who need face-to-face attention instead of with those with simple needs like allergy medication renewal. According to Varney, her patients love MiCARE’s education library, where they can request information on topics like knee pain, diabetes or diet plans. They don’t even have to talk to a doctor or nurse to learn about their own health. “A big part of medicine is education and reassurance,” Varney explains. “With an ankle sprain and there’s nothing I can do for them but educate them. The library is an empowerment tool for patients.”