Blue Button 2.0 at ONC Annual Meeting - API 101 and ONC FHIR Workshop

Editor's Notes

• #2: Hello Everyone. My name is Mark Scrimshire, I'm a Blue Button Innovator and Developer Evangelist for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Otherwise known as CMS. For the past few years I've been working on technologies and policies that empower patients to access their health data. Today I'm here to talk to you about the new Blue Button API, Blue Button 2.0 and how with the help of Innovative Developers we can create a Data-driven ecosystem with our Medicare Beneficiaries.
• #4: So what is in the API? 4 years of Claims history comprising Medicare Part A, B & D information For 53 Million Beneficiaries. *ie. Hospital/In-Patient, Professional and Pharmacy claims.* The API provides a variety of information about a beneficiary’s health, including type of Medicare coverage, drug prescriptions, primary care treatment and cost.
• #5: At CMS, we knew that when it came to empowering patients it is the services, not just the raw data, that is important. This is why we set out to build an API and tools so that Developers could access a Beneficiary’s claims with their consent and put that data to work. Developers at big tech companies, large-scale research projects like the NIH’s Sync for Science, and at hundreds of startups across the country are building these patient-facing services enabled by access to Medicare claims data. From health data aggregation to medication adherence to clinical trials, app developers can reduce patient burden and turn claims data into actionable insights improving patient care and reducing healthcare costs. *This has been a long journey for me and I am proud of the support and leadership that CMS has provided in this quest to unleash the power of data for patients. I am truly looking forward to seeing how you, as innovators, dream up new ways to help Beneficiaries by using their claims history without placing a heavy burden on them when they choose to share their data.*
• #7: *For this magical interaction to happen in just a few clicks it requires a developer to build the integration using some well-proven Internet Standards* *Let's run through what a Developer needs to do to* build this. First, he had to create a Developer account on the CMS Blue Button Developer Portal and setup his app. Next, he sets up the Blue Button OAuth and used a sample MyMedicare username and password to retrieve a valid token Next, he fetches this sample Beneficiary's Explanation of Benefit record. The Explanation of Benefit FHIR Resource combines key information from a Claim and optional Account information to describe the goods and services rendered by a provider and the settlement made under the patient's coverage in respect of that Claim. A doctor's visit or prescription filled for example. *The Developer uses our documentation and the Developer Preview environment to add the Blue Button API functions to their application. When the app is ready for prime time they submit their app to CMS to be added to the Production API. **Once their app is activated on the Production Blue Button API they can update their App in the relevant app stores and start recruiting Medicare Beneficiaries.*
• #9: I am delighted to announce today that the **Blue Button 2.0 API** is ready for you to use. So Developers and Innovators. This is your call to action: **Go To** [bluebutton.cms.gov](http://bluebutton.cms.gov/) **and get started.** Join more than 80 other organizations registered on our Developer Preview. Next week we will begin processing requests from those developers to move their applications over to the production Blue Button 2.0 API. The CMS Blue Button API team will be hanging around if you have additional questions but I am happy to take a few questions now.