The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) said yesterday that it will revise its certification programs for electronic health record systems to meet the requirements for meaningful use of health IT recently issued by the Office of the National Coordinator.
Applications for CCHIT certification of both comprehensive and modular electronic health record (EHR) will open Feb. 12, the date that the ONC rule becomes effective, CCHIT said. Although the commission since 2006 has been the s0le organization authorized to certify EHRs, ONC said it plans to start a process that would let multiple organizations certify EHRs.
Under the recent meaningful use proposal by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services healthcare providers must purchase a certified EHR in order to qualify for federal health IT incentive payments. A separate Interim Final Rule by the ONC describes certification standards EHRs must adhere to in order deliver applications required under the meaningful use plan.
Certification programs must be in place quickly because meaningful use eligibility for hospitals starts in October 2010, said Alisa Ray, CCHIT’s executive director.
About 24 vendors that have already achieved certification under CCHIT’s latest programs will be offered incremental testing to close any gaps, she said. CCHIT also posted gap analysis to assist that effort online.
For all other EHR vendors, the updated criteria and scripts will be published soon and applications will be accepted beginning Feb. 12.
“Our aim is to ensure that hospitals and doctors have enough time to purchase and implement certified EHRs and achieve meaningful use in time to qualify for HHS financial incentives in 2011 and 2012,” she said in the announcement.
Ray said that ONC’s rule contained “no big surprises” for CCHIT, which will allow the organization to quickly update both their comprehensive and modular certification programs to conform to the rules. CCHIT also plans an online teleconference Jan. 26 to discuss the changes in its programs.