Comments on: EMR Ratings: How Relevant Is CCHIT Certification In the HITECH Era?

By: Nathan Lake

Nathan Lake — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 20:03:43 +0000

I would take this one step further and suggest that CCHIT may not survive. They started under a government contract. At the end of that contract several years ago, they had to start generating revenue and were somewhat successful, due much in part to being the only company in the market. Now, with no real experience in a competitive business market, they have to survive as one of a number of ATCBs. I am not confident.

By: medical assistant

medical assistant — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 20:30:39 +0000

My gut feeling tells me that CCHIT will remain and I hope with more aggressive approach it may dominate the future.

By: Donald Parker

Donald Parker — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 23:47:28 +0000

CCHIT is already irrelevant.

By: actron cp9190

actron cp9190 — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 02:00:10 +0000

thank you chris this very good resource.

By: pharmacy tech

pharmacy tech — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:06:30 +0000

found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later

By: Debbie

Debbie — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:56:40 +0000

certification needs to focus attention on adopting a universal PHR. a PHR that holds current demographic as well as updated insurance information, etc. on each patient and is controlled and maintained by the patient. a government-run agency controls the PHR software and databases.

By: Paul Roemer

Paul Roemer — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:33:47 +0000

That which is irrelevant cannot become less relevant. Certification and Meaningful Use are as relevant to EHR as bull fighting is to agriculture.

By: Carol Flagg

Carol Flagg — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:08:30 +0000

At 1:30 EST the ONC’s Blumenthal is holding a teleconference to discuss the Final Rule for a temporary certification program. The Final Rule on this temp certification program will be posted in the Federal Register today. Here’s the link with the phone number to call in http://bit.ly/aZUifc

By: Chris Thorman

Chris Thorman — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:21:05 +0000

@ Sue

Thanks for stopping by and commenting. The updates sounds interesting, especially EHRs certified for use in clinical trials.

By: Sue Reber

Sue Reber — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:35:53 +0000

Chris – an interesting discussion. I’m tempted to quote Twain on our account but I won’t.

A few comments.

1) Since we opened our current programs on October 2009, we’ve had about 70 applicants for certification divided about 50:50 between our independently-developed CCHIT Certified programs and our preliminary ARRA programs. All CCHIT Certified applicants also applied for preliminary ARRA certification so, as soon as we can become accredited by ONC, these 70 companies will be well positioned to quickly move forward to full ARRA certification. It’s interesting to note that about 30 of these applicants are new to CCHIT and represent small businesses who saw no barriers to participating in our certification process.

2) The Commission, in its CCHIT Certified programs, has an ongoing commitment to address the needs of specific medical specialties, care settings and patient populations that are not recognized in the federal minimum requirements. CCHIT currently offers certification programs for Cardiovascular Medicine, Child Health and Emergency Departments. In addition, the Commission plans to open its newly developed programs for certification of EHRs used in Behavioral Health, Dermatology and Long-Term and Post-Acute Care on July 26, 2010. A certification program for EHRs used in Clinical Research will be available in fall 2010. Next month we are beginning development for EHRs used in Women’s Health and Oncology to be available in spring 2011. In early 2011 we will be refreshing our expansion roadmap to include development of more of these specialty-specific certifications. All of this development relies on the expertise of our broadly representative volunteer work groups that include a third or less health IT vendor representation.

3) We believe that the healthcare providers we serve will see a lot of value in our more stringent CCHIT Certified interoperability and security requirements, and appreciate the assurance that the products have been both inspected against medical scenarios and verified in live practices to certify the integration of their functionality, interoperability and security capabilities.

Sue Reber, CCHIT