Soon, millions of federal employees, retirees as well as their families will be able to use Blue Button® to download their personal health data from their health plans’ websites, making it easier to share their information with physicians, family and for emergency treatment.
On December 19, 2011, OPM requested that all health insurance carriers within FEHBP add this Blue Button service to federal employees’ personal health records on their websites.
Blue Button is a secure site that enables people in the FEHBP system to review, download and keep maintain their personal health data by a click of the button. The Blue Button downloads will be made available in text files that can be downloaded, read, stored and printed on any computer without special software. And, patients will be able to use it to transfer their health information from one doctor to another. This innovative system already is being used by veterans, service men and women, and CMS beneficiaries – totaling 500,000 individuals.