On the Horizon: A Breakthrough in Consumer Medical Data
Recently, various healthcare stakeholders and representatives from Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon (tech giants that also collectively employ around 1 million people) convened in Washington to announce a collaborative effort that could give consumers access to their medical claims data. They plan to test the new data interface this year and launch it more broadly next year.
This all came about through the effort of the Carin Alliance, a private-sector collaboration made up of major health insurers, providers, health IT companies and tech giants. They have developed a data model and draft implementation guide that will standardize claims data sharing in a way that will make medical claims data easier for patients to access. The model builds on the new Blue Button 2.0 technology that was launched by CMS last year. Through that effort, 44 million Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries now have digital access to their historical claims information through an app of their choice.
How well does it work? It’s a small sample, but several of our Mercer colleagues have used Blue Button to access and share medical claims data for a family member on Medicare and they give it a thumbs up. We’re tracking this closely and will provide more details as they become available.