46 Groups Recommend Blue Button

As the Obama administration showers doctors and hospitals with stimulus money, it should tell the takers to embed an icon on their subsidized e-health records that allows patients to download their records, according to a new paper backed by 46 consumer, provider, corporate, insurance and privacy groups.

The Markle Foundation, a N.Y.-based organization that studies national security and health information technology, released on Tuesday a report that advocates for a so-called blue button. Some government websites for Medicare and veteran beneficiaries, including MyHealtheVet.gov, are beginning to offer this feature. The file that the button pulls up for Internet users looks like this.

Currently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is paying providers billions of bonus payments, allocated under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to program and share patient health information electronically. The goal of health IT is to reduce errors, speed treatment and improve quality of care, activists say. But some consumer and patient groups have raised concerns about the cost and security of such systems.

Markle envisions the blue button as a common tool on secure websites for patients and beneficiaries that are hosted by medical practices, hospitals, insurers, pharmacies, laboratories and commercial information services. Tuesday's paper contains a set of privacy and security specifications for the gadget.

"By clicking the blue button, you could get your own health information electronically -- things like summaries of doctor visits, medications you are currently taking, or test results," said Carol Diamond, managing director at Markle. "Being able to have your own electronic copies and share them as you need to with your doctors is a first step in truly enabling people to engage in their health care."

Supporters of the proposal include the following organizations:

AARP • Allscripts Healthcare Solutions • American Academy of Family Physicians • American College of Cardiology • American College of Emergency Physicians • American Medical Association • Anakam Inc. • Axolotl • BlueCross BlueShield Association • Center for Connected Health • The Children's Partnership • Center for Democracy and Technology • Center for Medical Consumers • Children's Health Fund • Chilmark Research • Computer Sciences Corporation • Consumers Union • Dossia Consortium • DrFirst • Google • Initiate, an IBM Company • The Institute for Family Health • Intel Corporation • Intuit Health • Keas, Inc. • LifeMasters-StayWell Health Management • Markle Foundation • McKesson Technology Solutions/RelayHealth • MedCommons • Medical Group Management Association • Meditech • Microsoft Corporation • National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship • National Committee for Quality Assurance • National Partnership for Women & Families • National Quality Forum • NaviNet • Pacific Business Group on Health • PatientsLikeMe • Prematics, Inc. • Press Ganey • PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP • RTI International • Vanderbilt Center for Better Health • Visiting Nurse Service of New York • Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.