Veterans can now access their medical history through a web-based tool called “Blue Button,” the Obama administration announced on Thursday.
The application is available at the Veterans Affairs Department website. Vets can log on to myhealth.va.gov and access an electronic copy of their medical history for personal use or to share with doctors outside of the VA. Records include emergency contact information, family health history and test results.
Medicare recipients can download or print a text file of their claims and similar health information on mymedicare.gov.
“Blue Button will be accessible to all My HealtheVet accounts—about one million Veterans in all—as well as 47 million Medicare enrollees,” according to a White House news release.
The Blue Button app should be getting an upgrade soon. Through a partnership between the Markle and Robert Wood Johnson Foundations developers were challenged to create applications that enhance the tool.
Adobe’s Blue Button Health Assistant was chosen out of 18 contestants to receive $2,500 and a coffee date with author Clay Shirky. The app provides a more user-friendly layout and better links health and claims data among patients and providers.
Users may soon be able to manipulate the record once it’s stored on their personal computers or transferred to pharmacies, lab systems and electronic medical record systems.
