HL7 Readies Blue Button Conversion Tool

Health Level Seven, the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based standards development organization, announced that by April it will have a file conversion tool and user's guide to adapt its Continuity of Care Document message transport specification to the Blue Button format developed by the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department.

The CCD is commonly used in the transmission of patient care summaries and other clinical messages. The Blue Button initiative, named for the color of an icon on the MyHealtheVet personal health-record system, lets veterans make copies of their health records stored in the VA's VistA electronic health-record system in either the plain-text ASCII or PDF document formats...