The Trump administration started a government-wide initiative aimed to give patients more power over electronic health data in a move to make it easier to share records with doctors.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma announced a new tool as part of the initiative, which is called MyHealthEData, during a speech at the Health Information and Management Systems Society annual conference in Las Vegas.
The tool, called Medicare’s Blue Button 2.0, is a secure way for Medicare beneficiaries to share medical information with a new doctor.
“More than 100 organizations, including some of the most notable names in technological innovation, have signed on to use Medicare’s Blue Button 2.0 to develop applications that will provide innovative new tools to help those with patients manage their health,” CMS said.
Verma said on a call with reporters Tuesday that a common complaint the agency hears from doctors is the “inefficiency of [electronic health records] and the inability to coordinate care for their patients.”
CMS also intends to overhaul its incentive programs for electronic health records to focus on interoperability and “reduce the time and cost required of providers to comply with the programs’ requirements.”
