ONC Continues Push For Blue Button During National HIT Week

Patient engagement is an important new requirement for Stage 2 Meaningful Use, and it’s a potential stumbling block for eligible hospitals and professionals failing to exceed the five-percent threshold required on this during this next phase of the EHR Incentive Programs.

One approach to satisfying this requirement that has received tremendous support by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the Blue Button Initiative.  Now, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is looking to build on this momentum by increasing its efforts to see this functionality adopted across the nation.

Prior to the kickoff of National Health IT Week, ONC’s Director of Consumer eHealth Lygeia Ricciardi described what the federal agency has done to facilitate easier adoption of the Blue Button: