Page 23 - Senior Times South Central Michigan April 2021 - 28-04

Senior Times - April 2021 Uncomplicating Medicare
Page 23
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What’s the Blue Button?
By: Sherii Sherban, Publisher
Medicare's Blue Button makes it easy for you to download your personal health information to a file through your secure Medicare account. Having access to your information can help you make more informed decisions about your health care. Medicare’s Blue Button is safe, secure, reliable, and easy to use.
By getting your information through Blue Button, you can:
• Download and save a file of your per-
sonal health information on your com- puter or other device, including your Part A, Part B, and Part D claims.
Note: You may want to invite your health advocate to assist while you set up your app especially if they will be helping to manage your health care needs.
• Print or email the information to share with others after you’ve saved the file.
• Import your saved file into other com-
puter-based personal health manage- ment tools.
The apps for the Blue Button can help you to connect your Medicare health information to other services you to trust to keep track of the tests and services you need and get reminders for them; track your medical claims; keep your medical records and list of medi- cines in one place; make appointments with and send messages to your doctor; get information just for you about your symptoms and medical conditions; find health and drug plans; connect your data to research projects; and keep track of your notes and questions.
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Medicare has released a new data service called Blue Button 2.0 that makes it easy for you to share your Part A, Part B, and Part D claim informa- tion with a growing list of authorized applications, services, and research pro- grams. You authorize each application individually and you can log into your Medicare account at anytime to change the way an application uses your infor- mation.
Once you authorize sharing of your information with an application, you can use that application to view your past and current Medicare claims.
Since you control access to your health information, it's your respon- sibility to take steps to keep it safe. Treat your personal and health infor- mation the same way you'd treat your banking or other confidential infor- mation.
For Medicare Advantage Plans, only Part D information is available through this service. If you have a Medicare Advantage Plan, check with your plan to see if they offer a similar service to Blue Button 2.0. Medicare keeps a list of authorized applications.
Here are some important things to remember:
How do I download and share my health information?
1. Log into (or create) your Medicare
• Keep your log in information private and secure.
account medicare.gov/account/login. 2. Click your name at the top of the
• You may want to download your information to a CD, flash drive or mobile app. We recommend you use encrypted and password-protected flash drives, CDs, and mobile apps.
screen.
3. Select "Download my claims & per-
sonal data" from the drop-down menu
that appears.
4. Select the information you want to
• If you want to send your information by email, encrypt the message.
download, and select "Create Report". 5. Save the file to your computer as
• Keep paper copies in a safe and secure place that you can control.
either a PDF or a TXT file.
• Blue Button and Blue Button 2.0 are optional services. You decide whether you want to share your personal infor- mation with others.
Why should I download and share my health information? By using Medicare's Blue Button and Blue Button 2.0 to download and share your person- al health information, you:
• Get control over your health informa-
• Medicare reviews all of the organi- zations that want to connect to Blue Button 2.0. But, it's up to you to choose the apps or other services you want to use.
tion.
• Make it easy to share your health
information with doctors, caregivers,
For more information regarding Medicare visit medicare.gov. If you prefer to talk with someone you can do a live chat through the website or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). TTY users can call 1-877-486-2048.
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• Get help managing and improving
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