More and more individuals are using digital data to make informed decisions about their health. Whether it be health information collected by wearable devices or lab test results in a patient portal, individuals can now access, share, and use electronic health data to manage their health needs. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of individuals taking a proactive approach to accessing to their electronic health information so that they can be better prepared in advance of an emergency.

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With the publication of the ONC Cures Act Final Rule, health IT developers, healthcare providers, and app developers now have formal direction regarding the content and transaction standards required for consumers to access their health information using standards-based application programming interfaces (APIs) and healthcare apps.  Building on this work, we’ve launched a new project to help accelerate the understanding and use of standardized APIs and healthcare apps. The Accelerating APIs for Scientific Discovery project is part of ONC’s efforts to spur innovation and adoption of standardized APIs to enable sharing of electronic health information among consumers,

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Melissa Crawford is a mother from Concord, NH.  Her two year old daughter, Ava, has a congenital heart defect and was recently diagnosed with epilepsy.  Melissa loves Ava’s physician’s patient portal since it allows her to easily book appointments and refill Ava’s medications online.  But when Ava’s pediatrician needed medical records from Ava’s five specialists, […]

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