Mostashari Experiences Blue Button In Action

Mary Mosquera | Government Health IT | December 11, 2012

Most everyone in health IT circles has heard about the Blue Button feature to download personal health information. But as Dr. Farzad Mostashari, the national health IT coordinator, found out, you’ve got to see it to appreciate it. 

While spending Thanksgiving holidays with family, he signed up his parents from his mobile device, for MyMedicare.gov, which also offers the Blue Button feature that of course Mostashari said he clicked right away. It downloaded three years’ worth of his parents’ claims data.

“The only problem is, even for me, it’s a little hard to understand,” he said, sharing his experience at the Dec. 5 Health IT Policy Committee meeting. “There are pages and pages of codes and NPI (national provider identifiers) numbers. It can be really hard to use."