As 2013 comes to a close, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on and celebrate our collective achievements. The following are a few highlights from the past year, and some things to look forward to in the New Year.
2013: Going Main Stream
In 2013 consumer engagement via eHealth generally and Blue Button specifically felt like they turned a corner. It moved from relative obscurity to themes thought leaders widely support. The journal Health Affairs kicked off the year with a special issue on the “New Era of Patient Engagement“ (to which we at ONC contributed). Then on the main stage at HIMSS, President Bill Clinton underscored the importance of patient engagement and gave a shout out to the Blue Button initiative. The Wall Street Journal, Consumer Reports, NPR and C-SPAN were among the media outlets covering the growth of patient engagement enabled by technology. Increasingly, thought leaders are using “Blue Button” to denote not only electronic access by patients to their health data, but also the greater movement toward patient engagement and empowerment that it enables.
Growth of the Blue Button Pledge Program to 500+ organizations
A program that began in 2011 as a small network of 40 “misfits” drawn to the relatively nascent concept of patient engagement has blossomed to 515 organizations, pledging to increase patient access to and use of their own health data to improve their health and healthcare experience. To view the complete list of participating organizations, which include consumer advocacy groups, health insurers, provider practices, pharmacies, and more – please go to: http://www.healthit.gov/patients-families/pledge-members.
Another Successful Consumer Health IT Summit
In September we held the 3rd Annual Consumer Health IT Summit in the Great Hall at HHS in Washington D.C. The goal of the summit was to galvanize the Blue Button Pledge community and to bring together leaders from the public and private sectors leading the charge to equip and empower patients to better manage their health electronically. The event attracted more than 1,000 attendees–with 300+ on site and another 735 participating remotely. It also generated a fair amount of trade press coverage (iHealthBeat, FierceHealthIT, NextGov, MobilHealthNews, EHR Intelligence, etc.) and articles in the Huffington Post and an American Cancer Society blog post. In addition, nearly 400K people interacted with #BlueButton tweets.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Strengthens Right to Access
In early 2013, HHS released the final HIPAA Omnibus Rule. It enhanced patient’s privacy protections, and provided patients with new rights to access their health information electronically. In September 2013, Leon Rodriguez, director for the Office for Civil Rights and enforcer of HIPAA regulations, released a memorandum clarifying that providers are required to give patients a copy of their health records in electronic form if that’s how it’s maintained. To learn more, please go to: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/righttoaccessmemo.pdf.
Engaging the Developer Community to Build Blue Button Enabled …read more
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