ONC Introduces Blue Button Plus, Pushes Initiative Forward

On January 16, 2013, the federal Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced plans to introduce interoperable standards for the Blue Button application that gives consumers the ability to download their personal health information. Currently, the Blue Button application is in use only by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Medicare. The interoperable application, called Blue Button Plus, will work with third-party consumer health data including structured electronic health record (EHR) information maintained by health care provider organizations and systems and non-EHR data, such as information maintained by third-party payers. The Blue Button . . .