{"id":5378,"date":"2013-11-08T09:42:25","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T14:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.healthit.gov\/buzz-blog\/?p=5378"},"modified":"2026-01-06T04:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T04:16:07","slug":"blue-button-codeathon-unlocking-data-empowering-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthit.gov\/blog\/consumer\/blue-button-codeathon-unlocking-data-empowering-patients\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Button Codeathon: Unlocking Data and Empowering Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anyone who has struggled to remember the name of their medication or the date of their child\u2019s vaccination, while juggling multiple doctor appointments for family members, knows firsthand how important it is that patients have access to their health information. We think our Blue Button initiative<\/a> can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re working every day at ONC to make sure that all patients can take advantage of their legal right to access their health data<\/a>.  The goal of the Blue Button initiative is to empower patients to download their health information in both a human and machine-readable format, and support developers with standards and guidance to create patient-facing technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liberating patient data, or making information from data holders such as insurance companies and health care providers easily available to patients, through Blue Button will require strong partnerships between a variety of players: health care professionals, the government, patients, and the innovation community.  Recently ONC, working closely with Optum, an information and technology-enabled health services business, hosted a Power to the Patient Codeathon at Health 2.0\u2019s Annual Fall Conference<\/a> in San Francisco. We also worked with Validic, a REST API that connects data from more than 75 mobile health apps, wearables, and in-home medical devices, to offer access to a range of sample data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Codeathon brought together developers, designers, medical professionals, and entrepreneurs from across the country for two days of designing and coding. The goal: patient empowerment through access to their health data using the Blue Button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Codeathon submissions followed two tracks: applications that use patient-generated data from consumer devices to help providers better care for patients outside the clinic, and applications that redesigned the Explanation of Benefits (EOB) statement to make it more patient-friendly. Participants had to build their submission in 36 hours or less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winning submissions reflected a diverse mix of applications that can make a real difference in patients\u2019 lives, giving them the tools they need to manage care for themselves and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blue Button & Patient Generated Health Data Track Winners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n