The US Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have quietly begun rolling out a new program called the “The Blue Button Initiative”. Soon to be featured on MyMedicare.gov and other government-sponsored healthcare website, the Blue Button allows registered users and beneficiaries “one-click” access to view and download their medical records. What’s more, a user’s personal health record (PHR) can be shared across a wide network of online healthcare portals and resources. To date, over 40 major organizations have endorsed and pledged to support this program, ranging from the AARP to Google to Wal-Mart.
The initial goal of the program is simply about access; users will now have safe and secure access to their electronic medical records and, ideally, use the data to improve healthcare decision making. Records can be downloaded, printed, and easily shared with treatment networks. Numerous security and privacy policies underlie the process, ensuring that the data cannot be compromised.
This initiative marks one of the first real mainstream applications of online EMR access. With the government investing billions into healthcare technologies, it’s likely just the beginning…and something to closely watch. Just how far will online EMR go? And how could it impact the delivery of online healthcare communications?
Imagine if your blue button data could be activated on any healthcare website by a patient upload or cookie-like file. Simply clicking a button could result in acutely customized information about treatments, diagnosis, and products. It’s one thing to customize a website around geography or demographics, but envision a drug website that was completely personalized using data from your EMR. The implications for online marketing and communications would be profound—perhaps even game-changing. Vast new opportunities would become palpable for marketing, online treatment support, and clinical trials recruitment.
None of these applications are feasible today, but programs like the Blue Button may prove to be a cautious first step that will lead to an explosion of new online healthcare technology.
The program is slated for a big unveil at the Health 2.0 conference in October.
