How to Navigate Online Care

Each time you log in to HMSA's Online Care, you'll arrive at your personalized home page. To get started with Online Care, just click on any of the buttons on the page. These buttons can help you find a doctor, take an automated health assessment, or manage your account.

You can also use the navigation bar at the top of your screen to access specific areas in Online Care. This navigation bar gives you one-click access to many areas in Online Care, each of which is explained in this guide. If you ever need more help, just click the Help link at the top of your screen to get assistance with common tasks and questions.

To log out of Online Care, click the Log Out link in the upper right-hand corner of your screen.

How to Connect with a Physician

There are several ways to connect with a doctor from your personalized home page:

• Quick Connection Buttons: The fastest and easiest way to connect with a doctor is to use the Quick Connection buttons. Clicking one of these buttons will find the first available doctor of that type and start the connection process immediately.
• Find a Doctor: If you know what kind of a doctor you would like to speak with, click Find a Doctor to find and connect with a provider or specialist of your choice. Enter the specialty of the physician, as well as any other criteria you like, and browse the profiles of available doctors. Once you've found the right provider, just click and connect!
• Connect to Your PCP: If you've added your primary care physician to your Online Care contacts, the Find a Doctor button will change, allowing you to quickly determine if your PCP is available. If your PCP becomes available, you will receive an alert on your home page, allowing you to connect immediately:

  To receive notifications about your primary care physician, you must designate an Online Care provider as your PCP. If you didn't add your PCP during enrollment, you can always add one from the My Preferences section of My Account.

• Not Sure Who to Talk To? If you're unsure which type of doctor you would like to speak with, Online Care can help you assess your health and find the right doctor to address any concerns. Answer a few brief questions, review the recommendations about which doctors you speak with, and connect immediately.

For more information on how to find a doctor, please refer to Finding a Doctor.

How to Use My Agenda

My Agenda is an organizational tool that makes it easy to keep track of health recommendations, including suggestions from your doctors, automated assessments, helpful articles, or other Online Care-related activities. The My Agenda area contains a personalized To Do List, your upcoming appointments list, and a waiting room:

• To Do List: Your To Do List contains recommended conversations with physicians, health assessments to take, articles to read, and self-care tools. Results of your Online Care activities will be automatically added in your To Do List, making it easy to manage your health and wellness online.
• Upcoming Appointments: You can use Online Care to schedule Web appointments with physicians. Doctors create a schedule of available appointment times, allowing you to pre-schedule conversations. Ten minutes before your scheduled appointment, just log in to Online Care, and an automatic alert will tell you when your provider is ready. To learn more about scheduling an appointment, please see How to Schedule an Appointment.
• Waiting Room: If the doctor you want to speak with is not available, you can wait in line for that provider in your Waiting Room. When the provider becomes available, you receive an automatic notification, allowing you to connect immediately. To learn more about the Waiting Room, please see How to Use a Waiting Room.

Staying Informed

HMSA's Online Care makes it easy to manage your health and wellness, and to keep other care providers informed about treatment you receive online. The Staying Informed tools give you access to:

• Message Center: The Message Center provides a secure, HIPAA-compliant way for you to send messages, reports and other information to Online Care providers. Using secure messages, you can request additional information or clarification from your online doctors at any time. Your providers also have a convenient way to keep in touch with you. In the Message Center, you can maintain a list of your contacts, which includes providers, pharmacies, hospitals, and other points of care.
• Health Reference: As an Online Care member, you have access to a user-friendly health reference library, provided by Healthwise™. Clicking the Health Reference button on the home page opens a new window where you can search for medical information and browse a variety of health topics.
• My Health: My Health stores your health history information, allowing you to share the information with your online providers. Online Care uses a variety of sources to build your health history, including:
  • Information you provide during enrollment.
  • Results of your online conversations.
  • HMSA claim records (HMSA members only).
  • Self-reported data.

  Using My Health, you can maintain a summary of your health history that includes conditions, medications, procedures, allergies and immunizations. You can share your health summary with providers during Online Care conversations, helping your doctors make informed decisions about your care.

How to Access Account Information

To view or change the account information you specified during enrollment, click on the My Account link in the upper right-hand corner of the Online Care Web interface. Here, you can manage your Online Care preferences, change payment information, monitor billing activity, and view or change your Online Care login credentials.

If you're an HMSA member, this information only applies to your Online Care account, not your HMSA member account. If you want to change HMSA member account information, you must do so from hmsa.com.