Everyone Needs A Blue Button

Flash forward to today – January 18, 2013. Last night – mom fell and broke her hip. I know what you’re thinking – this is typical. I’ve thought that too (and worried about that. She was at her house to go to the funeral of a family friend, and she went alone. My dad (on oxygen) was at my house with me. I’ve been journaling during the whole visit (who knew there was this much stuff you could learn in 24 hours about health care) – but more pertinent – is what I learned about what I didn’t do and why I appreciate electronic health records and interoperability even more.

After mom’s stroke – which I’m in the process of documenting on this blog – we went to her PC provider – and he spent 80 minutes with us gathering details and determining further treatment. The hospital that she was in hadn’t sent the records or the test results – but  I was able to give an episodic summary – and since then Mom’s been doing great. Then life happened...

Ironically – today when I was reading  my twitter feed I saw this tweet.   The VA is releasing new Blue Button functionality this month so that all patients can download their progress notes and discharge summaries via the “Blue Button”.

Both hospitals are using electronic health records.   If all hospitals had a “Blue Button” – I would have those records.     If all hospitals were able to exchange electronic records – my mom’s surgeon would be able to read about her stroke from October.    I will be taking the steps next week to make sure that I have those records and also copies of my dad’s health care records.    For patients at the VA – they can get those records in the “click of a blue button”.