Blue Button

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Vendors Compete to Add EHRs, Provider Data Exchange to Blue Button Initiative

Unknown | U.S. Medicine | September 1, 2011

When VA went live with its Blue Button download format last year, the goal was to give veterans the ability to download their personal-health information directly from their MyHealtheVet account. A new initiative announced this summer will expand that capability to private health-care records. Read More »

Veteran Healthcare Gets Smarter

Wendy Connick | The Suit | March 31, 2012

Spurred in part by a need to care for returning Veterans, the federal government has been ratcheting up demands for new technological innovations that can make doctor-patient interactions more efficient and give patients more control over their health. And Humetrix has developed tools to meet those needs. Read More »

Veterans Affairs CIO Eyes Budget Increase

J. Nicholas Hoover | Information Week | February 21, 2012

While IT spending across most of the federal government would be flat next year under President Obama's budget released last week, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would see a 6.9% increase, with much of the uptick going to improved electronic health records (EHRs).

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Veterans Journal: Retirees Spend 27% Less On Health Under TRICARE

George W. Reilly | Providence Journal | August 11, 2013

According to the Congressional Budget Office, military retirees spend 27 percent less for health care under TRICARE, the Defense Department’s managed-care provider, than they did when the program began in 1996. Read More »

VETERANS’ CORNER: VA Medical Centers Make 2013 ‘Most Wired’ List

Jim Vines | Weatherford Democrat | August 4, 2013

The 2013 “Most Wired” hospitals named the Department of Veterans Affairs, representing 152 VA medical centers, to its list. Read More »

VHA Joins 'OpenNotes' Effort for EHR & PHR Systems

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has joined the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation's 'OpenNotes' initiative as a partner along with other healthcare provider organizations – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, Geisinger Health System, MD Anderson Cancer Center . These organizations are all fully committed to giving patients online access to clinical notes. Read More »

Video: Craigslist Founder Discusses His Role As VA 'Nerd-In-Residence'

Caitlin Fairchild | Nextgov | November 25, 2013

Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, came to our Nextgov Prime conference this year to discuss his more recent work with the Veteran Affairs Department. Dubbing himself VA's "Nerd-in-Residence," Newmark has worked with the agency's Blue Button Initiative to make electronic health records available to all veterans. Read More »

VistA as an EHR System Core for DoD

Here is a copy of the full text of the proposal submitted by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to the Department of Defense in response to the Request for Information for an electronic health record (EHR) solution that can replace the existing DoD EHR system. This is the approach that makes the most sense as the current core EHR that the Department of Defense (DoD) uses is based on a 30-year-old version of VistA. The current EHR crisis facing DoD stems from the inability to upgrade this older version of VistA. What the VA is proposing is basically an upgrade to DoD's existing core EHR. Read More »

Washington Watch: Blue Button Push

Diana Manos | HealthcareITNews | September 13, 2012

One of the most interesting and innovative elements of the advancement of health information technology that I've encountered, is Blue Button, a web tool patients can use to view and download their personal health information. Read More »

Where did the issue of health data exchange disappear to?

There has been extensive talk about the scandals at the VA and remedies for them, including the political and financial ramifications of partial privatization. Republicans have suggested it for some time, but for the solution to be picked up by socialist Independent Senator Bernie Sanders clinches the matter. What no one has pointed out yet, however–and what makes this development relevant to the Datapalooza–is that such a reform will make the free flow of patient information between providers more crucial than ever. Read More »

White House Innovation Fellows On Open Health Data

Leah Stern | Health Data Consortium | August 27, 2012

Last Thursday, the White House announced the inaugural crop of Innovation Fellows. We’ve been eagerly anticipating this announcement, heralding as it does the latest exciting open government venture. In particular, we’re excited that three of the fellows are working on Blue Button, a tool to allow millions of Americans to download their personal health information electronically. Read More »

White House Launches Presidential Innovation Fellows Program

Press Release | The White House | August 23, 2012

US Chief Technology Officer Todd Park announced the first class of “Presidential Innovation Fellows” today. Selected from an applicant pool of nearly 700 innovators from across the country, the 18  “Fellows” have agreed to spend six months in Washington to work on five high-impact projects aimed at supporting entrepreneurs, small businesses and the economy, while significantly improving how the Federal Government serves the American people.

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White House names 18 innovators for Blue Button, digital projects

Mary Mosquera | Government Health IT | August 24, 2012

The White House named 18 Presidential Innovation Fellows, the first set of proven private sector innovators chosen to bring their expertise to work for the government in Washington, D.C., for six months on five high-impact projects using electronic data and tools.

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White House Names Blue Button Innovation Fellows

Paul Barr | ModernHealthcare.com | August 23, 2012

President Barack Obama named three Presidential Innovation Fellows who will be charged with promoting wider use of the Blue Button, a health information technology service implemented in the Veterans Affairs Department to allow patients and their families to more easily download medical and health records. Read More »

White House Pushes Blue Button: Broader Adoption of Secure Records Downloads Sought

Howard Anderson | Gov Info Security | May 24, 2012

A new Presidential Innovation Fellows program, which seeks developers for short-term technology assignments, includes a project designed to spread the use of the Blue Button medical records secure download function. Read More »