You have the choice to get your health information anywhere and any way you want –according to the Office of Civil Rights with some limitations. Today, more and more uses of health information are being presented to consumers as innovators recognize our demand for health related applications. Unfortunately, there is a dilemma. Over the past ten years a lot of things have changed – more and more providers are using technology to improve how they deliver care and, once that care is delivered, how they share information with other caregivers that see the patient. Sadly, other things are still pretty much as they were in the 19th Century, including how patients get access to information about themselves held by their provider.
The release of the National Association for Trusted Exchange’s (NATE) Blue Button for Consumers (NBB4C) Trust Bundle is aimed at simplifying interoperability between the healthcare delivery system and the consumer, enabling you to decide how to use your health information.
NATE is an association focused on enabling trusted exchange among organizations and individuals with differing regulatory environments and exchange preferences. With beginnings back in 2012, NATE emerged from a pilot project supported by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). NATE was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization on May 1, 2012 in the District of Columbia. NATE has been operating Trust Bundles in production since November 2012 and recently took over administration of the Blue Button Consumer Trust Bundles. Working with a broad set of stakeholders through multiple task forces, crowdsourcing and a call for public comment, NATE announced the first release of NATE’s Blue Button for Consumers (NBB4C) Trust Bundle February 4th at the ONC’s Annual meeting.Continue reading…
