Certification Commission Receives Recommendations for New Certification

CHICAGO – June 30, 2009 – A special task force created by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology to provide strategic guidance on development for certification for long term and post acute care electronic health records (EHRs) has completed its work, recommending a strong focus on the EHR technology requirements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

On June 16, the Long Term and Post Acute Care (LTPAC) Advisory Task Force delivered its recommendations to the Certification Commission which approved them unanimously. During its six weeks of work, the task force agreed that the LTPAC technical work group should identify core certification criteria common to four priority care settings for use in the initial EHR certification. These care settings are

• Skilled Nursing and Nursing Facilities
• Medicare Certified Home Health Agencies
• Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities
• Long Term Acute Care Hospitals

Other recommendations include reusing or adapting existing criteria from other CCHIT certification programs; identifying additional criteria specific to each care setting; and including a roadmap indicating when the criteria are expected to be implemented. The final recommendations are available at the Long Term and Post Acute Care Advisory Task Force page.

Long term and post acute care is a growing and important healthcare segment,” commented John Derr, R.Ph., senior vice president and chief technology strategic officer, Golden Living, LLC, and a commission co-chair of the task force. “The four priority care settings are just the beginning. The patients and residents under LTPAC care transition between many care settings depending upon their clinical requirements. The task force began this process with a priority-setting process for all care settings. Criteria will be developed for other care settings like assisted living, independent care, and hospice after the initial four are completed. We look forward to working with the Commission and the Office of the National Coordinator in implementing a standardized and certified electronic health record for LTPAC.”

The newly appointed LTPAC Work Group will receive these recommendations, along with other Commission recommendations on its scope of work, and begin the process of developing criteria for certification of LTPAC EHRs at its first face-to-face meeting July 15-16. The Advisory Task Force, which includes representatives from skilled nursing facility, assisted living, home care, hospice, health information technology, government and consumer organizations, will continue to provide input on EHR certification to the Certification Commission’s LTPAC Work Group. EHR certification for the first two settings – skilled nursing facilities and certified home health care – is expected to be available in 2010 during a phased rollout of the Commission’s newly developed 2011-2012 ARRA EHR certification programs.

About CCHIT

The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT®) is a private, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that has been recognized by the federal government as an official certification body for electronic health records. Its mission is to accelerate the adoption of robust, interoperable health information technology by creating a credible, efficient certification process. The certification requirements are based on widely accepted industry standards and involve the work of hundreds of expert volunteers and input from a variety of stakeholders throughout the health care industry. More information on CCHIT and CCHIT Certified® products is available at www.cchit.org, http://ehrdecisions.com and http://phrdecisions.com.

“CCHIT®” and “CCHIT Certified®” are registered trademarks of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology.