At the U.K.’s National Health Service expo in London last week, Humetrix presented U.K. versions of its award-winning iBlueButton health apps.
Patients can use the apps on their Android and iOS mobile devices to download copies of their medical records from a practitioner. The professional version of the app runs on iPad.
In the U.S., iBlueButton programs work for Medicare patients, veterans and active-duty military patients, Aetna health plan enrollees and patients who use RelayHealth. Patients can request their medical records at any time from their medical practitioner so they can share those records with another doctor at the point of care.
The iBlueButton apps won the U.S. federal government’s Blue Button Mash-Up Industry Innovation Challenge as part of the Federal Blue Button Initiative.
According to the Blue Button website, “The Blue Button approach is a simple concept: A patient is provided with a highly visible, clickable button to download his or her medical records in digital form from a secure website offered by their doctors, insurers, pharmacies or other health-related service.”
In other words, patients will have the ability to log into their electronic medical record, which will be kept on a secure website. They can browse the information, download it and share it for a variety of personal reasons.
Blue Button could mean the end of waiting for medical records to be schlepped from place to place through the mail. Instead of calling their physicians and waiting for records exchange until someone can photocopy or fax them, patients have immediate control over how they access and share their health information.
In addition to providing an important service for patients, Blue Button provides opportunities for companies like Humetrix to design innovative solutions that will give patients anywhere access to their records.
In addition to federal government investment, the not-for-profit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has also taken interest in funding the Blue Button Initiative.
“We expect to see more and more apps designed to take the data individuals can download and turn it into useful information and valuable tools used to manage one's health like reminders to get preventive services or refill a prescription, or a list of the lowest price outlets to order medications,” said RWJF CTO Stephen J. Downs.
Edited by
Braden Becker
