CMS Administrator Seema Verma Calls for an End to Physician Fax Machines by 2020

U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma wants digital health information to replace the use of fax machines in doctor offices to send patient data, reports Healthcare Finance News . At a recent interoperability forum, Verma said CMS and the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) are teaming up to achieve a health ecosystem that sees the free flow of information between patient, provider, and payer. Related to this, CMS is seeking Blue Button 2.0 app developers interested in building consumer-friendly applications for Medicare beneficiaries to connect their claims data to the applications, services and research programs they trust. "If I could challenge developers on a mission, it's to help make doctors' offices a fax-free zone by 2020," she said.