More than 500 groups have registered to build apps using Blue Button 2.0, an open application programming interface tool developed by CMS, a senior White House official told Politico's Morning eHealth newsletter.
CMS launched the API to allow third-party apps and services to connect to and make sense of Medicare claims data. Apps developed with the Blue Button 2.0 API could flag harmful drug-drug interactions or alert clinicians if a patient has already received a certain test, CMS Administrator Seema Verma said during the agency's Blue Button 2.0 Developer Conference Aug. 13 in Washington, D.C.
At the conference, CMS encouraged industry developers to create innovative software products with the API. So far, 23andMe, Amazon, IBM, Microsoft and Alphabet's life sciences arm Verily are among the hundreds of groups that have registered with CMS to use the API, along with payers like Anthem and academic institutions like Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"Right now, it's just gobbledygook claims data," Ms. Verma said, according to Politico. "App developers are taking the data and making it more meaningful for patients."