Blue Button

See the following -

TENSIO™ Taps HealthKit Data to Put Anyone with High Blood Pressure in Control Latest App from Humetrix Set to Debut at Digital Health Summit at International CES

Press Release | Humetrix | December 17, 2014

Humetrix is set to introduce TENSIO™, the first in a suite of healthcare apps which aim to give consumers more control and better visibility into their medical conditions.  TENSIO is designed for anyone who wants to measure the effects of lifestyle and prescribed medications on blood pressure.

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The Curious Case Of Blue Button

Ken Congdon | Healthcare Technology Online | July 2, 2012

While it may not be the answer to all HIE and patient engagement challenges, Blue Button does prove one thing — there is a large contingent of patients out there that want control and access to their health records...Rather than dwell on its perceived weaknesses, the health IT industry would be wise to consider the progress Blue Button has made and improve upon the concept. Read More »

The HITECH Era in Retrospect

John D. Halamka, M.D. and Micky Tripathi, Ph.D. | The New England Journal of Medicine | September 7, 2017

At a high level, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 accomplished something miraculous: the vast majority of U.S. hospitals and physicians are now active users of electronic health record (EHR) systems. No other sector of the U.S. economy of similar size (one sixth of the gross domestic product) and complexity (more than 5000 hospitals and more than 500,000 physicians) has undergone such rapid computerization...

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The Power Of The Blue Button

Peter Levin and Lygeia Ricciardi | Health IT Buzz | October 1, 2012

In August 2010, just 25 months ago,  President Obama announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was going to make Veterans’ personal health records available to them online with something called the “Blue Button.” Read More »

The Promise of a Little Blue Button

John Moore | Chilmark Research | September 11, 2012

...despite some shortcomings, the event was focused around what may be the government’s (VA & CMS) finest contributions to promoting patient engagement – the Blue Button.
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Todd Park: Patient Engagement Will 'Vastly' Improve Healthcare

Dan Bowman | FierceHealthIT | June 7, 2013

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. Read More »

Top 4 Care-Transition Benefits Of DoD, VA Joint iEHR

Benjamin Harris | Government Health IT | November 13, 2012

Caring for the nation's service members has never been easy. Providing world-class medical attention for the men and women of the Armed Forces from the front lines to the hospitals and clinics of the Veterans Administration (VA) is a daunting task that entails massive logistical and data hurdles. Read More »

U.S. CTO seeks to scale Agile Thinking and Open Data across the Federal Government

Alex Howard | O'Reilly Radar | May 29, 2012

In the 21st century, federal government must go mobile, putting government services and information at the fingertips of citizens, said United States Chief Technology Officer Todd Park in a recent wide-ranging interview. "That's the first digital government result, outcome, and objective that's desired." Read More »

Upcoming Digital Health Opportunities: Codeathons And The SXSW Accelerator

Steven Randazzo | HealthData.gov | October 1, 2012

For the past three years, through the Health Data Initiative, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has focused on the liberation of health data... Read More »

US Defense Think Tank Calls for DoD to Adopt the Open Source VistA EHR and Avoid Closed and Proprietary EHRs.

One of the most prestigious U.S. defense think tanks, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), issued a white paper Thursday calling on the Department of Defense (DoD) to replace their existing dysfunctional “vendor-lock” medical records system with an electronic health records system (EHR) that is "extensible, flexible and easy to safely modify and upgrade as technology improves and interoperability demands evolve." The white paper warns that a "closed and proprietary" commercial EHR - such as the ones offered by Epic, Cerner or Allscripts - will lead to "vendor-lock” and isolation of health data. Read More »

VA Announces New Veterans Health Application Programming Interface

Press Release | US Department of Veterans Affairs | December 7, 2018

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently launched its first Health Application Programming Interface (API) that will power the next generation of Blue Button features by enabling Veterans to interact with their own personal health data within innovative mobile and web-based apps. Introduced on Dec. 4, at the White House Executive Forum on Healthcare Data Interoperability, Health APIs will power the next generation of Blue Buttonfeatures by enabling Veterans to interact with their own personal health data within innovative mobile and web-based apps. Sponsored by the White House Office of American Innovation, the forum brought together senior health care leaders from both the public and private sectors. Health APIs will also support new clinician-focused applications, and can also serve as a foundation for data sharing between health systems to support Veteran care.

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VA Blazing Its Own Trail When It Comes To Government mHealth

Greg Slabodkin | FierceMobileHealthcare | May 13, 2013

Say what you want about the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and its bloated bureaucracy. One fact that cannot be disputed is that the VA continues to be a national leader in health IT. Read More »

VA Blue Button Adds Patient Summary Document Tool

Mary Mosquera | Government Health IT | January 23, 2013

The Veterans Affairs Department has added a new tool through its Blue Button feature so veterans may more easily download a summary of their essential health information. The enhancement is the VA Continuity of Care Document (VA CCD) in xml file format. Read More »

VA CIO Clarifies Plans For iEHR

Dan Bowman | FierceEMR | February 12, 2013

In the wake of criticism following news last week that the Departments of Veterans and Defense will abandon plans to build a joint electronic health record system from the ground up, VA CIO Roger Baker is clarifying that the two departments still plan to create a joint record. Read More »

VA Deploying mHealth Apps To Give Veterans Quicker, Easier Data Access

Judy Mottl | FierceMobile Healthcare | September 4, 2014

The Veterans Affairs Department plans to debut the first two of several mHealth apps providing veterans easier and quicker access to healthcare data via smartphones and tablets sometime early this fall...

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