"Blue Button" technology - the ability of patients to download their health data via the Internet - has gone from concept to pilot in less than a year.
The most prominent pilots were jumpstarted in the federal government. The Veterans Affairs Dept.'s patient portal, MyHealth.va.gov, has a "blue button" that enables its veterans to access their medical records. The VA did a soft launch over the summer and by the beginning of October, more than 60,000 veterans accessed their records via the blue button.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also did a soft launch over the summer for its MyMedicare.gov patient portal. In the same timeframe, more than 5,600 Medicare beneficiaries accessed their claim data via the blue button.
For soft launches, those numbers are pretty impressive. The Blue Button idea was loosely conceived by members of Connecting for Health, the public-private collaborative led and operated by the Markle Foundation. Connecting for Health members are looking to expand the Blue Button concept to healthcare providers, as a way to easily, seamlessly and cost-efficiently enable their patients to access patient records through EHRs, per the meaningful use criterion.
The technology to make that connection isn't there yet, but the idea makes a lot of sense.
Of course, privacy is at the heart of the conversation, and unless privacy and security concerns are fully addressed public acceptance won’t be forthcoming, and the initiative will die.
That's where the early efforts of the VA and CMS will help build the case. For one, if you get public acceptance of just the idea of being able to access your patient records, the challenge will be how to make it happen. If the market wants it, and I believe people do once they see how convenient it is, the question becomes not "if" but "when."
When both the VA and CMS conduct marketing campaigns to their constituencies, the rest of the industry should take note. Imagine reading a brochure about Baby Boomers or veterans accessing their medication history and getting educated about their healthcare. For one, people don't think of Baby Boomers as being that tech savvy, but early numbers indicate that they will seek their patient records when given the chance. For Baby managing expensive chronic conditions, information that helps them manage their health will lead to better outcomes and reduced cost for the entire healthcare system.
The Blue Button concept is a great idea. Collaboration among privacy and security experts, government and the private industry is a requirement to move it out of the concept and pilot stage and into the mainstream.
Photo by elitatt courtesy of Creative Commons license.
