In case you missed it, ONC opened National Health IT Week on Monday September 10, 2012 with a consumer summit to highlight recent progress and catalyze future success in the area of consumer engagement via health IT. Highlights included an interview with Veteran Randy Watson, a recap of the history and expanding role of the Blue Button, Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements that support patient and family engagement, and achievements by numerous public and private sector leaders who are all contributing to this movement. National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park, and Acting Director of the Office of Consumer eHealth Lygeia Ricciardi convened consumers and patients, federal and private sector panelists, and myriad other stakeholders to learn from and work with one another.
Many of you have asked for links to video of the summit, resources that were presented, and what you can do to support Blue Button. Below are resources available for your use:
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Recap of the meeting and other ONC National Health IT Week activities: http://www.healthit.gov/healthitweek/
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Blue Button on HealthIT.gov: http://www.healthit.gov/bluebutton
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Health IT For You animated video: http://www.healthit.gov/patients-families/multimedia
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Suite of Office of Civil Rights videos: .
What Can You Do To Support Blue Button?: Through ONC’s Blue Button Pledge Community, hundreds of private sector and non-profit organizations have promised to empower individuals to be partners in their health through health IT via access to information and promotion of its use. We ask you now to use the logo and phrase “Blue Button” to describe this access. Below are some additional steps you can take:
As a Consumer, Patient, or Caregiver…
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Talk to your health care provider about health IT, and ask if they have the ability to Blue Button your health information.
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Understand what’s in your health records. Make sure the information is complete and correct.
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Share your health information with members of your care team and others you trust.
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Use the information on its own or in apps and tools to help make decisions and meet your personal health and wellness goals.
As a Healthcare Provider…
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Talk to at least one patient per day about their health data.
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Build discussions with patients into your clinical workflow.
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Implement the ability for patients to view, download and transmit their health information (soon!).
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Share your success stories and setbacks.
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Tell us what you need to be successful.
As a Consumer Group…
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Embed the Health IT 4 U animated video www.healthit.gov/4uvideo on your web site, and use it in your outreach efforts.
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Blog, tweet, and use other social media to talk to consumers about the importance of Blue Button and consumer engagement.
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Leverage traditional media to raise awareness.
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Ask “data holders” to fulfill the Pledge on behalf of consumers.
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Recruit other consumer / “non-data holders” to this vision & get them to sign the Pledge.
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Help us better to better understand what consumers need through polls and surveys
As an Employer…
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Ask payors you work with to offer Blue Button.
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Create incentives for your employees to use Blue Button.
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Incorporate info about consumer engagement into state educational requirements
As an Electronic Health Record Vendor…
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Use the Blue Button logo and slogan in your products.
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Enable the functionality for patients to view, download and transmit their health data (soon!).
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Participate in the S&I Framework standards effort to Automate Blue Button
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Put in place policies that support patient. access and protect privacy.
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Build Blue Button into education for the public and providers.