Posted by EHR Analyst on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 @ 11:44 PM
HHS today named CCHIT (Certification Commission for Health Information Technology), and the Drummond Group, Austin, Texas, as organizations qualified to test and certify electronic health-record systems as capable of meeting meaningful-use criteria under the federal IT subsidy program established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
"This is a crucial step because it ensures that certified EHR products will be available to support the achievement of the required meaningful-use objectives, that these products will be aligned with one another on key standards and that doctors and hospitals can invest with confidence in these certified systems," David Blumenthal, head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at HHS, said in a news release Monday.
Read here more for more details.
Posted by EHR Analyst on Sat, May 08, 2010 @ 12:41 PM
The Health IT Policy Committee
endorsed comments on a plan by the Office of the National Coordinator to offer permanent certification of
electronic health record systems, including a provision to monitor EHRs after they are purchased to ensure providers are installing the proper technology.
The advisory panel okayed this and other features of permanent certification described in a proposed rule published by ONC in March. The ONC is expected to finalize its plan for permanent certification of EHRs sometime before the end of the 2010.
Permanent certification describes requirements for testing whether EHRs deliver the functions required for meaningful use. A separate temporary certification plan has been designed containing a more limited set of requirements to help providers get EHRs up and running in the first year of the meaningful use program.
Posted by EHR Analyst on Sat, Apr 10, 2010 @ 10:16 AM
The federal Health IT Policy Committee has recommended that health IT vendors use labels to clarify that their EHR Software is certified to satisfy first-stage requirements for meaningful use in order to ward off potential confusion among buyers about whether systems they are considering will qualify them for the incentive program.
Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has recently asked for comments about its plan to offer "temporary" certification of health IT products and systems which is designed to qualify health IT systems for first stage of the meaningful use plan, which begins next year. A permanent plan will be developed to certify health IT products for future phases of meaningful use.
Under the proposed rule, vendors would be directed to label their products with the date the product was certified. The committee also recommended that technology that is certified during 2010 should contain a label specifying that it has been certified for Stage 1 requirements only.
To help providers keep track of certified products, the committee also urged ONC and certifying organizations to maintain a Web site listing the names of vendors and their product version numbers that have received certification.
Posted by EHR Analyst on Thu, Dec 31, 2009 @ 01:13 AM
HHS issued two sets of much-anticipated federal regulations that significantly further the government's healthcare information technology adoption agenda. The first set of regulations lists the "meaningful use" criteria that healthcare providers must meet to qualify for federal IT subsidies based on how they use their electronic health records. The second set of regulations lays out the standards and certification criteria that those EHRs must meet for their users to collect the money.
The meaningful use regulations are proposed regulations subject to a 60-day public comment period after which HHS would issue final regulations. The EHR certification regulations are interim final regulations that take effect in 30 days with a 60-day public comment period. HHS said final regulations will be published in 2010.
Under the proposed meaningful use regulations, eligible healthcare providers must use their EHRs to: improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare services; reduce healthcare disparities; engage patients and their families; improve the coordination of care; improve population and public health; and ensure the privacy and security of personal medical information.
Under the interim final EHR regulations, EHRs must be able to securely exchange information among providers and between providers and patients using standardized data elements and technologies. The regulations outline standardized formats for such things as clinical summaries; medical descriptions of clinical conditions and test results; and how that information is exchanged over the Internet.
Source: Modern Healthcare
Posted by EHR Analyst on Thu, Dec 10, 2009 @ 01:41 AM
David Blumenthal, M.D., national coordinator for health information technology, on December 7, 2009, posted a stimulus-related update on ONC's blog, called Health IT Buzz.
He announced that meaningful use criteria (from CMS) would be coming within weeks, with electronic health records certification plans in early 2010. Those rules had been expected along with meaningful use rules by the end of 2009.
Original Text from the Blog:
At ONC, we're making tremendous progress to achieve our goals and today, I wanted to provide a quick update and an important new announcement.
Although I'm often out front in communicating our goals and progress, there is an entire organization - plus numerous collaborating agencies, our federal advisory committees, and other stakeholders - behind me working harder, and faster than ever, to get the right pieces in place to meet very aggressive timelines.
You have seen evidence of that work already with our announcements of major grant programs to help establish health information exchange and grow the health IT workforce. And you'll see even more in the weeks and months ahead as we roll out new projects.
Already, we're on the way to getting the Regional Extension Centers and the State Health Information Exchange program established early in 2010. In fact, on a technical assistance call on Friday about the extension center program, we announced that, due to a strong response for applications, there will be approximately 30 extension center awards made in January and the remainder in March. This should assure support is in place for providers looking to become meaningful users of EHR systems leading up to 2011.
Of course, this isn't all we're doing. You will see meaningful use criteria (from CMS) in a matter of weeks. We also anticipate publishing in early 2010 our proposed plans for establishing a new certification program, which we believe will enable most vendors to have their products certified by 2011. And there will be a number of other awards and programs rolling out between now and the end of the first quarter. This past week's announcements of the Beacon Community Program and additional workforce training grants continue to build the needed foundation for electronic health records throughout the nation.
We're working hard and we're working fast, but we're also working smart and ensuring that the necessary programs and standards serve as a sound foundation.
Posted by EHR Analyst on Wed, Dec 02, 2009 @ 01:52 AM
The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology has announced the first
electronic health records products certified under its 2011 criteria.
The Chicago-based organization has two programs for 2011 that include criteria to support proposed federal standards for qualifying for Medicare/Medicaid incentive payments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The government has not officially proposed standards. But based on some requirements in the law and recommendations from federal advisory committees, CCHIT has launched initial 2011 certification programs that it will modify if necessary.
The CCHIT Certified Comprehensive program is an update of the organization's traditional EHR certification service. The Preliminary ARRA certification program focuses on the standards for qualifying for the Medicare and Medicaid incentives for meaningful use of EHRs.
The initial EHR product certified under the Certified Comprehensive program is ABELMed EHR-EMR/PM, Version 11, from ABEL Medical Software Inc.
The initial EHR products certified under the Preliminary ARRA program are:
- eHealth Made EASY, Version 3, from eHealth Made EASY LLC. The product is certified for supporting two of 27 meaningful use objectives for eligible providers and 2 of 24 objectives for hospitals;
- KIS Track, Version 5.1, from Kaulkin Information Systems, supporting 2 of 27 objectives for eligible providers; and
- Medios, Version 4.5, from IOS Health Systems, supporting 27 of 27 objectives for eligible providers.
More information is available at cchit.org.
Author: Joseph Goedert
Source: Health Data Management