Todd Park: Patient Engagement Will 'Vastly' Improve Healthcare

Addressing a packed room at the Health Privacy Summit in Washington, D.C., this week, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park emphasized the importance of federal efforts to engage patients in their own healthcare.

"We're in the middle of a huge cultural shift to get patients access to their records," Park said. "Patient engagement--to quote Leonard Kish--may be the blockbuster drug of the 21st Century. This will vastly improve our healthcare system."

Park, who previously served as CTO for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, spoke at length about the evolution of the Blue Button, which gives patients easy access to their medical records. He said that more than 88 million Americans now have access to their data via Blue Button, a number that is expected to grow to 115 million by the end of the year. More than one million people, to date have downloaded their data via Blue Button, he said.