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- Blue Button - Information for DevelopersONC and the Department of Veterans Affairs have teamed up to launch a new Standards...Yes. Stage 2 of Meaningful Use requires that patients be given the capability to view, download and transmit their health data electronically. These requirements are fully aligned with the Blue...Maybe. Stage 2 of Meaningful Use requires that patients be given the capability to view, download and transmit their health data electronically. These requirements are fully aligned with the Blue...The ONC Pledge Program was launched in September 2011 to catalyze and support organizations at the vanguard of empowering individuals to be partners in their health and health care through health IT...No, but it used to be. Blue Button started as a simple-as-it-gets text (ASCII) file. But that was only the start. As more organizations adopted the Blue Button and more patients used it, it became...The Veterans Health Administration launched the Blue Button in August 2010 by adding it to VA’s MyHealtheVet patient portal. Veterans could use the Blue Button to download their health information in...
- Blue Button - Introduction for General Audiences“Blue Button” is shorthand for a movement toward an improved healthcare system in which patients and providers use information technology to collaborate and improve health. The Blue Button logo...
- Blue Button - Using and Understanding the Blue ButtonThe Blue Button enables you to securely access your personal health data online by clicking on a “Blue Button” logo or icon. You may have access to your claims and personal health information that...It depends if your health care provider, health plan (insurer), or other entity that manages your health data (e.g. pharmacy, lab, etc.) offers a way for you to get secure access to your health...Blue Button for America is a collaborative effort by the Department of Health and Human Services, the White House, and the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand consumer access to personal health...Many people in the United States still don’t have easy, electronic access to their health information, and many don’t know that the Federal government has taken a large step towards solving that...The HIPAA Privacy Rule sets rules and limits over who can look at and receive your health information. The rules still apply with Blue Button so your doctor won’t have access to any information they...To ensure that your personal health information is kept private and secure, typically only you can access the Blue Button after you have logged into your health care provider or health plan’s patient...“Blue Button” is a term that connotes easy, secure electronic access to your health data. Having access to this information can help you manage your care by having information you need to coordinate...You should already be taking care of yourself—or managing your care—by watching what you eat, exercising and taking advantage of preventive health benefits your health plan might offer. And many...You are not required by law to use Blue Button. However, being able to “blue button” your health data and share that information with others you trust could be helpful in the event of an emergency...Although your doctor may not want to offer you with a way to securely access your health record online, they are required by law to provide you with a way to view and get a copy of your medical...Your doctor is not required to offer Blue Button. However, there are financial incentives available from the federal government to encourage health care providers to adopt electronic health record...There should not be a cost. Ask your health care provider or health plan if they offer a way for you to view, download and share your health information online.The Blue Button allows you to download your personal health information, including information like your emergency contact information, health history, important test results, medications, allergies...To ensure that your personal health information is kept private and secure, typically only you can access the Blue Button after you have logged into your health care provider or health plan’s patient...The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) helps keep entities covered under HIPAA accountable for the privacy and security of patients’ health information. Although electronic...Even if you don’t have access to Blue Button through your health plan, doctor or other health care provider such as pharmacies, nursing homes and labs, you still have a legal right to see and get a...Remember that unless you are a veteran, Medicare beneficiary or service member or your health plan, health care provider (doctor or hospital) or other entities where you seek care use Blue Button, it...It depends. The data that you are able to get from your health plan and your health care provider (doctor, hospital, etc.) may be different. Health plans may have both claims and personal health...
- Investing in Innovation (i2)The Investing in Innovation program has seen numerous successes and have generated applications and tools that are available to people right now to help them address and take charge of their health....In January of 2009, President Obama directed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to issue an Open Government Directive [PDF - 80.5 KB] to prompt executive departments and agencies to take...Challenges enable the Federal government to tap into the expertise and creativity of the public in new ways. Under the Administrations’ directive calling for innovative ways to generate ideas and...The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has created a webpage with extensive resources and links covering the entire challenge process. Visit Challenge.gov to view the challenges...Challenge proposals must fit several criteria to proceed with further development. Most importantly, challenges must support the achievement of Office of the National Coordinator for Health...Challenge reviewers are selected by the challenge managers for their subject matter and technical expertise. i2 reviewing panels are usually a mix of federal (Office of the National Coordinator for...Intellectual property policies vary from challenge to challenge and are specified in each challenge’s announcement in the Federal Register. Generally, the Office of the National Coordinator for...Challenges serve purposes beyond the creation of innovations and solutions to problems in health IT. They allow the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to...Each challenge uses different criteria that reflect what should be achieved by an innovative solution. However, challenges with similar anticipated outcomes will have common criteria. For example,...Award amounts are determined similar to how challenges are selected. An award amount will be larger if, for example, the solution has a high degree of technical complexity, will require a longer...Individuals who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and private entities incorporated in and maintaining a primary place of business in the U.S. are eligible to win prizes. There are no...The Investing in Innovation program has launched 20 challenges, of which 11 have been completed so far. The completed challenges have recognized 31 winners and awarded a total of $500,...
- ONC RegulationsRead the most frequently asked questions [PDF - 360 KB] regarding ONC regulations.
- Privacy and SecurityThe Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the Department of Health and Human Services has the regulatory authority for the HIPAA Privacy and Security rules. OCR also issues guidance and...HITECH (Section 13101) required the establishment of a Health Information Technology Policy Committee (HITPC) to make recommendations on the policies needed to enable the electronic exchange and use...ONC is working with the federal Health Information Technology Policy Committee (HITPC) and HIT Standards Committee (HITSC) to explore policy and technical methods for enabling patient choice in...ONC federal advisory committees have been active in collecting information, deliberating on key issues, and making recommendations to the National Coordinator on measures related to security of...Section 13101 of the HITECH Act (2009) required that a new Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) position be established in ONC. The CPO will advise the National Coordinator on critical privacy and security...
- State Health Information ExchangeMedicare and Medicaid meaningful use incentives are anticipated to create demand for products and services that enable HIE among eligible providers. This demand for health information exchange will...Each group has an important role to play. States enabled by this cooperative agreement program will develop and implement a Strategic Plan that will ensure that a comprehensive set of actions will...States/SDEs play a critical leadership role fostering effective and efficient exchange of health information that leverages existing regional and state efforts and is based on HHS-adopted standards...Commercial barriers. The HITECH Act calls for the “development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that allows for the electronic use and exchange of information and that…...The HITECH Act seeks to improve patient care and make it patient-centric through the creation of a secure, interoperable nationwide health information network. A key premise is that information...The process of building meaningful use and HIE capacity in a state can best be described as an ongoing process of planning, implementation and evaluation that results in building and expanding...
- Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP)The SHARP program seeks to support improvements in the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare, through advanced information technology. The research projects supported by the SHARP program...The goals for each project are to develop technology solutions in the selected area of research, make the technology solutions available to the health information technology market, and make research...An award was made to each of these institutions: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and Harvard...ONC, and/or its representatives, will provide the following types of support to SHARP: Consultation and technical assistance in planning, operating, and evaluating the research activities...Any entity who submitted an application for this award was required to be a U.S.-based public or private institution of higher education; or other public or private institution or organization with a...The awards were made in the form of cooperative agreements with a four-year project period. Each cooperative agreement anticipates a total budget of approximately $15 million over the full four-year...Coordination will be facilitated by a Federal Steering Committee. There will be regular opportunities for interaction between principal investigators, senior staff, and senior researchers of the four...The cooperative agreements focus on breakthrough research. The work to be undertaken by awardees is intended to inform the development of tools and find its way into the development of tools and...Yes, the definition of IT products should be considered in the broadest possible sense and does not exclude those related to technologies developed in non-commercial settings or those intended to be...The SHARP program encourages collaborations with the vendor community and recognizes that they are essential to innovation within health IT. Vendors will be important in helping to develop the...For additional information, please contact onc.request@hhs.gov. Read more about the SHARP program.The SHARP program provides for new competitively-awarded cooperative agreements to establish Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP). Each awardee will implement a collaborative, inter...
- Workforce - Community College Consortia ProgramThe Workforce Development program established under Section 3016 of the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act of 2009 consists of four programmatic components: This program: Community College...The lead awardee of each funded Consortium, as the recipient of the cooperative agreement, is responsible for: Establishing the Consortium Organizing and managing the Consortium Issuing and...Institutions of higher education were eligible to apply. Any university that applied must also have been engaged in providing training in health IT. The lead awardee was also required to provide a...It is anticipated that each Community College Consortium will begin training by September 30, 2010.A health IT professional is someone who is qualified to support the adoption and implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), information exchange across health care providers and public...A non-degree program is a specific course of study designed to train individuals in targeted skills without earning a degree. Students receive a certificate or equivalent for successfully completing...In April 2010, ONC awarded cooperative agreements to five institutions to create Community College Consortia as part of this program. One award was made in each of five predetermined regions to...An award was made in March 2010. The duration of the grant award is for a maximum of two years. Total first-year funding allocation by region and lead awardees are provided below: RegionABCDE...A qualified pool of workers will be needed to ensure the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), information exchange across health care providers and public health authorities, and the...
- Workforce - Competency Examination ProgramThe Workforce Development program established under Section 3016 of the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act of 2009 consists of four programmatic components: This program: Information...The program provides $6 million via one cooperative agreement to the Northern Virginia Community College. The award will support the development, testing, and implementation of a mechanism to assess...Domestic institutions of higher education, or consortia thereof, were eligible to apply for the award.The award was made to Northern Virginia Community College in April 2010 in the form of one two-year cooperative agreement totaling $6 million.Faculty experts from community colleges and universities participating in the workforce development programs will provide the domain knowledge to structure the examinations and compose the test items...The purpose of this program is to provide support to one institution of higher education, or consortia thereof, to support the development and initial administration of a set of health information...
- Workforce - Curriculum Development Centers ProgramMany features have been added or substantially upgraded in Version 3.0: New content has been added on the topics of meaningful use, privacy and security, public health, health care industry,...The curriculum components represent a "buffet" of choices for instructors. While the components can stand on their own, instructors should choose the units within components that are relevant to...Again, the curriculum components represent a "buffet" of choices for instructors. Instructors should choose the units within components that are relevant to their course curriculum and that will fit...The purpose of this program is to provide $10 million in federal funds to five domestic institutions of higher education (or consortia thereof) to support health information technology (health IT)...As part of an instructional buffet, the units in the components are designed to be mixed and matched as desired by the instructors. However, the default option would be to begin from Unit 1 of a...The workforce development program established under Section 3016 of the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act of 2009 consists of four programmatic components: This program: Information...Yes, as part of an instructional buffet, the units in the components are designed to be mixed and matched as desired by the instructors to meet their course learning objectives.In April 2010, cooperative agreements were awarded to Oregon Health & Science University, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and Duke University....The component files have been used successfully in many of the major learning management systems, such as Blackboard, Basecamp, Moodle, and others.Oregon Health & Science University was awarded additional funding to serve as the National Training and Dissemination Center. This Center: Organized and hosted an in-person training event for...Because the training for these roles and their competencies by the Community College Consortia is required to occur within a six-month period, it is expected that most of the students who will use...While open to any member of the public, the intended audience is instructors at institutions of higher education, especially community colleges. Anyone who agrees to set up a profile on the NTDC...As described in Appendix B of the funding opportunity announcement and further expanded upon here [PDF - 30 KB], there are six health IT workforce roles requiring short-term training of six months or...As you set up your profile the NTDC website, you must provide a valid e-mail address. This e-mail address will be added to an e-mail distribution list that will only be used by the NTDC for the...Component objectives have been developed for each curriculum component that address the competencies of the six short-term health IT workforce roles. A matrix [PDF - 13 KB] has been developed that...You may submit general questions and suggestions about the overall ONC HIT Workforce Curriculum Development Centers program via email to HITCurriculum@hhs.gov. If you are a Community College...Within the matrix of components by role, a.k.a. the “set table,” components are designated as core, secondary, tertiary, or not relevant for a role, depending on whether the student has a health or...Go to the NTDC website at http://www.onc-ntdc.org or http://www.onc-ntdc.info to set up a profile. Once you have successfully logged in, you will be able to download any of the components.At least 80% of the exam questions address the core units of the curriculum components. The rest of the exam questions may be based on results of an employer survey about the workforce roles. It is...Per the original funding announcement, the universities acting as Curriculum Development Centers retain the copyright for their components. However, they have chosen to distribute the materials for...The meaningful use regulation is covered explicitly in the components, as are supporting topics such as clinical decision support, electronic prescribing, health information exchange, public health...Version 1.0, used by the Community College Consortia program in 2010-11, and Version 2.0, widely released in June 2011, will no longer be available once Version 3.0 is released, beginning March 2011...Domestic institutions of higher education, or consortia thereof, were eligible to apply for an award under this funding opportunity.The National Training and Dissemination Center has established a secure site from which users, such as community colleges and other institutions of higher education, can download the curriculum...There is a hierarchy of terms used to describe the components: Curriculum, meaning a group of courses at an institution Course, meaning a group of related instructional classes over a period of time...Collectively, the Centers have produced materials supporting instruction for 20 different content areas: Introduction to Health Care and Public Health in the U.S. (Oregon Health & Science...Five cooperative agreements were awarded in April 2010 to the following institutions: InstitutionFunding Amount Oregon Health & Science University $2,720,000 (includes $900,000 for National...Component objectives have been developed for each curriculum component that address the health IT workforce role competencies. Multiple learning units made up of elements such as lectures, activities...Date Milestone April 2010 Awards issued April 2010 Developers' Workshop Early August 2010 First draft of curriculum materials released to instructors from the Community College...
Most Popular Questions
The Workforce Development program established under Section 3016 of the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act of 2009 consists of four programmatic components:
This program: Community College...
The National Training and Dissemination Center has established a secure site from which users, such as community colleges and other institutions of higher education, can download the curriculum...
The purpose of this program is to provide support to one institution of higher education, or consortia thereof, to support the development and initial administration of a set of health information...
States/SDEs play a critical leadership role fostering effective and efficient exchange of health information that leverages existing regional and state efforts and is based on HHS-adopted standards...
Your doctor is not required to offer Blue Button. However, there are financial incentives available from the federal government to encourage health care providers to adopt electronic health record...