BlueButton+Plus+-+FAQ

include component="page" wikiName="siframework" page="ABBI Header" Following is a list of frequently asked questions for the BlueButton Community, organized by topic. To submit additional questions to the FAQ, please contact the BlueButton support team (listed below). =Frequently Asked Questions=

General
Q: Where can I find up to date meeting information? Is there a meeting invite for BB+ meetings? A: At this time, we do not provide a meeting invite to community members. You have a number of options for tracking BlueButton meetings. >> 1. Meeting information is always up to date on the main BlueButton Wiki and each of the Workgroup pages. >> 2. You can subscribe to the Google Calendar for Blue Button by going to the S&I Calendar and selecting the BlueButton link. All community and workgroup meetings are kept up to date on the calendar (including cancellations, etc.)

Payer Workgroup
Q: What is the end goal for the Payer Workgroup (to help guide input on the Project Charter)? A: The end goal is to develop and test a draft specification for an Explanation of Benefits document. If the group finds that there is a larger addressable market for other payment models (ACOs, Medical Homes, or Bundled Payments) we can align with the demand.

Q: What are the key deliverables for the Payer WG? A: > Initial research >> Payor outreach surveys - initial survey completed to assess the appetite for change >> Consolidation of sample EOBs - to understand the common elements between EOBs, determine best practices and essential fields for inclusion in a specification

> Core focus >> Draft specification - expanding the work of the last group to improve and operationalize this spec >> Presentation framework (HTML+JS+XML/JSON) - once the data is in a structured XML or JSON format, it can be included a presentation layer that makes it easy to view on the web and mobile devices.

Q: Do the deliverables for the Payer WG include developing financial / EOB-like standards? A: The short answer is yes. This can be achieved by building upon the existing Blue Button specification and giving an standards making body like HL7 the ability to formalize it. The spec should contain all fields found in a typical Explanation of Benefits. We are not looking to repeat the work done during the last payer workgroup, instead to improve and augment it. Q: Do the deliverables for the Payer WG include standardized formatting & exposure of financial data, so 3rd party vendors can develop apps that present the data the way they think the consumers want to see it? A: Yes, third party applications will also allow users to maintain a history of these statements from multiple sources, and manage financial data for their dependents.

Q: Do the goals of the Payer WG include getting Industry Adoption? A: If we take a data driven approach in measuring the success of these tests (pilots), this will make a strong case for others adopting the standard as well. It will also be important to meet the demand of developers and entrepreneurs interested in building experiences around this draft specification given that it can surface new use cases and opportunities that we have not yet considered.

Q: Do they include developing these standards for the developer audience, in addition to a PDF version and an Executive Summary for the Business side of the house? A: The machine readable standard is meant to initially improve the delivery of the data and is intended for the developer audience. Structured data increases computability and flow of data in the system. It is only one format of many, and is intended to compliment the PDF, not replace it. I have not considered an executive summary, do you have examples of this for other types of health documents?

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