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Bill Clinton even talked about it at the HIMSS conference last spring, and large, influential patient advocacy organizations such as the American Cancer Society are adopting it, urging their members to look for the Blue Button to access and use their own health information Trade press, bloggers and Twitter are abuzz about it. Across the country the Blue Button is popping up on patient portals and health education websites, on smart phone apps and in doctors’ offices. Similarly, the Blue Button symbol is becoming a rallying cry for change, a shorthand way of referring to the growing reality and future potential of consumer and patient engagement supported by better health information and tools. In addition, the recycling symbol, like Blue Button, is both an action-oriented signpost (“put your plastic bottles in this bin”) and something more (it can convey the aspiration: “protect the environment!”). Other “concept” symbols (as opposed to brands for a specific product) include the EnergyStar and Organic Foods symbols, which were both created by the federal government and are now widely used by the private sector. Getting a copy of your own health records (especially electronically) is a relatively novel behavior for most people, and many are not aware that they have the legal right, under HIPAA, to do so. When a new concept emerges, creating a word and/or image to represent it can help to solidify it.

There are ongoing opportunities to contribute to the development of additional standards guidelines associated with Blue Button for those who are interested.

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The Blue Button Plus technical guidelines also make it easier for consumers to get automatic updates to their health records (e.g.

The Blue Button Plus guidelines,) which were developed collaboratively with 68 volunteer organizations, enable organizations such as doctors’ offices, hospitals, and payers to standardize the structure and transport of health information and electronic health records to support the use of more sophisticated tools that allow consumers to better share their Blue Buttoned-information with others they trust and plug them into in apps and tools. To encourage Blue Button’s growth and keep up with a rapidly changing technical environment, ONC has both loosened technical requirements for use of the Blue Button logo and developed voluntary guidelines for implementing Blue Button in a more structured way that is consistent with Meaningful Use requirements. The VA and other agencies continue to use Blue Button in practice and to help ONC improve it. It became so popular that last year leadership of the Blue Button initiative was transferred to ONC, which, as the “national coordinator” and champion of consumer engagement in health is well positioned to support its nationwide growth. Soon, Blue Button spread beyond its VA roots to other government agencies and the private sector. The VA’s definition of Blue Button specified a particular technical format (ASCII text or PDF), which enabled patients to read, print, or store their health records in a straightforward but bare bones way.

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Then, as now, a veteran could click on the Blue Button icon to securely download their health information electronically. The Veterans Administration (VA) was first to display the Blue Button symbol on its patient portal in 2010, and veterans quickly embraced it. On the simplest level, Blue Button is a literal “button” appearing on many websites that lets consumers get their health information online. It’s evolved rapidly in the last few years, so I’d like to help set the record straight. We get a lot of questions about what “Blue Button” is and what it stands for. This year we’ve decided to include “Blue Button” in its title. This year’s National Health IT Week Consumer Summit celebrates consumer and patient engagement in health and healthcare via health information technology.

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Registration is full, but you can sign up for the wait list or participate virtually online. Next week the Department of Health & Human Services – and ONC – is helping to kick off National Health IT Week (#NHIT) with the third annual Consumer Health IT Summit: Accelerating the Blue Button Movement.

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