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Answer to Your Question

If I am a “Meaningful User” of health IT, does that count as Blue Button?

Yes. Stage 2 of Meaningful Use requires that patients be given the capability to view, download and transmit their health data electronically. These requirements are fully aligned with the Blue Button goals of empowering patients to be partners in their health and health care through access to and use of personal health information. The evolving and expanding vision for Blue Button further articulates the goal of giving patients both a “human readable” and “machine readable” version of their information, which can be accomplished as part of meeting the view, download, and transmit capability requirements.

Please refer to the official web site for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Programs for the complete list of meaningful use criteria.

Blue Button - Information for Developers

Didn’t Blue Button start at the VA? How is it evolving?
The Veterans Health Administration launched the Blue Button in August 2010 by adding it to VA’s MyHealtheVet patient portal. Veterans could use the Blue Button to download their health information in...
Will using Blue Button satisfy the “patient and family” requirements of Meaningful use?
Maybe. Stage 2 of Meaningful Use requires that patients be given the capability to view, download and transmit their health data electronically. These requirements are fully aligned with the Blue...
How can I get involved?
We need experts to develop standards and pilot the technology, innovators to push the envelope, and patients and providers to test that it works. To join this initiative or to learn more, visit the...
How does the Blue Button relate to the ONC Pledge Program?
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) Pledge Program was launched in September 2011 to catalyze and support organizations at the vanguard of empowering...
Blue Button used to be a very simple technological approach. Are you working on new ways to support consumer access to data?
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Department of Veterans Affairs have teamed up to launch a new Standards & Interoperability Initiative to...
Is Blue Button a specific technology?
No, but it used to be. Blue Button started as a simple-as-it-gets American Standard Code for Information Interchange text (ASCII) file. But that was only the start. As more organizations adopted the...
How can I get involved?
We need experts to develop standards and pilot the technology, innovators to push the envelope, and patients and providers to test that it works. To join this initiative or to learn more, visit the...