VA Blue Button moves ahead with vets' health records

The Blue Button is a way for a vet to download his or her personal health record, maybe to bring to a doctor or clinic. It's a moving target, a big step toward getting more info available and accessible. It's one of many efforts across government to provide better medical care at lower cost for everyone.

Blue Button draws mostly on data entered by the vet, but also has aconnection to health information from the Department of VeteransAffairs. DoD has one too. Because they coordinated so closely they arenearly identical. You don't see that every day in large agencies.

The deal is that Veterans Affairs has greatly accelerated the rate at which it serves vets, with lots more to come.

Vets can access their Blue Button records at myhealth.va.gov

It includes the following now; more to come:

• Emergency contact information
• Medications
• Allergies
• Medical conditions and personal
• Medical history
• Family medical history
• Test results
• Military health history
• Healthcare providers
• Treatment facilities
• Health insurance
• Immunizations
• Labs and tests
• Vitals and readings
• Family health history (self and relatives)