Blue Button Set For Improvements

Federal health information technology officials highlighted Jan. 16 efforts to give patients the ability to download personal health record data via the Blue Button initiative.

During a webinar hosted by the National eHealth Collaborative, officials drew attention to a Jan. 6 draft Blue Button implementation guide outlining how providers can securely transmit patient data and do so in a semi-structured manner. The pell-mell quality of Blue Button-downloaded data has long been recognized as a downfall of the effort, which began in the Veterans Affairs Department as a means to permit patients to have an electronic receipt of care received...