Blue Button

<p>The Blue Button is a system for patients to view online and download their own <a href="/facts/Personal_health_record/xcV47alh">personal health records</a>.  Several Federal agencies, including the <a href="/facts/United_States_Department_of_Defense/dWAvf7e3">Departments of Defense</a>, <a href="/facts/United_States_Department_of_Health_and_Human_Services/eS90vYmd">Health and Human Services</a>, and <a href="/facts/United_States_Department_of_Veterans_Affairs/oIxJ2vDE">Veterans Affairs</a>, implemented this capability for their beneficiaries. In addition, Blue Button has pledges of support from numerous health plans and some vendors of personal health record vendors across the United States. Data from Blue Button-enabled sites can be used to create portable medical histories that facilitate dialog among <a href="/facts/Health_care/LPS1WKbI">health care</a> providers, caregivers, and other trusted individuals or entities.
</p><p>As of 2013<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blue_Button&action=edit">[update]</a>, widespread Blue Button usage supported downloading human-readable data in ASCII. In January 2013, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT announced an implementation guide for data holders and developers to enable automated data exchange among Blue Button+ compliant applications using structured data formats. Blue Button+ is designed to enhance the ways consumers get and share their health information in human-readable and machine-readable formats; and to enable the use of this information in third-party applications.
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Blue Button open-in-new

Blue Button