Blue Button Awareness Dwindles

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

From 2013 to 2014, researchers noticed a decreased awareness among healthcare organizations of the VA’s Blue Button tool.

Among healthcare organizations, awareness of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Blue Button tool decreased from 2013 to 2014. According to iHealth Beat, the Blue Button tool was developed in 2010 for use by the VA to help veterans access their personal health records. Since then, other private and federal agencies have adopted the tool.

In a survey of nearly 300 stakeholders, WEDI found that 49 percent of respondents were unaware of the Blue Button. In 2013, that number was only 32 percent. According to researchers, this result could be because in the 2014 survey, WEDI included providers who were not eligible for MU incentives.

The use of Direct, a federally sponsored messaging protocol, to transmit data increased in 2014 for providers and insurers. Technology developers and government respondents, however, decreased their use of Direct.

The survey also found that direct mail, email and text messages remain top priorities for communication with patients. It’s important to note, though, that mobile services, sharing data with other providers, and sending information to third party services and applications were also increasingly cited.

“It is clear through our findings that usage and adoption of personal health records continues to grow among industry stakeholders and awareness of Blue Button+ is slowly building,” said WEDI President and CEO Devin Jopp, Ed.D in an announcement. “Our intention is to work closely in support with HHS to help further educate the industry on the usage of the Blue Button Implementation Guide in order to improve adoption of a standardized approach to exporting personal health records. WEDI will continue to monitor industry progress towards this initiative.”