Pharmacy chains, associations join Blue Button initiative

Several of the largest U.S. retail pharmacy chains and associations are pledging to support the Blue Button initiative to help patients access their prescription information, according to a post published on the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy blog.

Blue Button+, a set of technical guidelines to help providers structure their data in standardized machine-readable formats, was released last year and the vast majority of doctors and hospitals will be working to use the Blue Button+ standards as part of their participation in the Meaningful Use program, according to the post.

The following companies are committing to work over the next year towards standardizing patient prescription information to fuel the growth of private-sector applications and services:  

Walgreens already provides its customers with the ability to view and download their prescription history from a Blue Button-branded online portal and plans to adopt BlueButton+ guidelines to make it easier for customers to easily and securely share their data with others.

Kroger provides about half of its customers access to their own pharmacy records through a secure online portal and will launch a secure portal for the remainder of its stores. The company also is looking into providing customers with a machine-readable copy of their records that can be shared and uploaded into third-party applications and services.

CVS Caremark's customers can securely access and download their medication lists and prescription history, as well as refill prescriptions through its various online portals.

Rite Aid customers can use the MyPharmacy online portal to access to their own prescription history, tools to better manage their prescriptions and medication management reminders via phone, email or text message.

Safeway plans to enable customers to securely access and share their own electronic pharmacy records.

Several national pharmacy associations also are joining the Blue Button initiative and committing to promote the adoption and use of Blue Button among the pharmacies they represent, including the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, Pharmacy Health IT Collaborative and the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations.

"These commitments from some of the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chains and associations promise to provide a growing number of patients with easy and secure access to their own personal pharmacy prescription history and allow them to check their medication history for accuracy, access prescription lists from multiple doctors, and securely share this information with their healthcare providers," the authors wrote.

The blog post was written by Nick Sinai, U.S. deputy chief technology officer at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Adam Dole, a Presidential Innovation Fellow at the Department of Health and Human Services.