Commission Names 265 Volunteers to Address New Paths to Certification

CHICAGO – June 11, 2009 – The Certification Commission announced today that it has selected 265 members for its 19 all-volunteer work groups. These new and returning volunteers will take on the challenge of rapidly transitioning the Commission’s existing certification programs, and developing new paths to certification, to directly satisfy the objectives and measures of meaningful use, to be released soon by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and its Advisory Committees. The roster of newly selected work group members is published at www.cchit.org/wg.

The volunteers were selected from a pool of more than 600 applicants who submitted 1123 separate applications – four times as many as there were work group slots available. In making its selections, the Commission based its decisions on individual expertise as well as balancing the experience of previously participating volunteers with the opportunity to include fresh ideas from new participants. The Commission’s requirement to maintain a fair stakeholder balance also limited the number of openings for applicants from any particular sector. To achieve an even higher level of accountability and transparency under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Commission limited health IT vendor participation on work groups to 33 percent, and counted applicants who receive any compensation from a vendor or hold a significant amount of vendor stock as falling within that category.

“This year more than 600 people volunteered – more than twice last year’s number – demonstrating the tremendous interest and commitment of the health care community to our efforts as an important part of the larger initiative to accelerate adoption and meaningful use of health IT,” said Mark Leavitt, M.D., Ph.D., Commission chair. “This year will bring dramatic challenges and changes, and we are grateful so many people are prepared to contribute their time and expertise to address them.

Work group members will meet for the first time on July 15 and 16 in Chicago where they will receive the Commission’s guidance for their upcoming work, as well as review the work in progress by ONC and its Advisory Committees. The Commission’s volunteer work groups will operate under a completely new criteria and test script development model and timeline in order to align with standards and implementation specifications as well as the meaningful use objectives and measures that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must publish by December 31, 2009.

In addition to the 12 existing work groups, seven new work groups were formed this year: Advanced Clinical Decision Support, Advanced Quality, Advanced Interoperability, Advanced Security, Clinical Research, Dermatology, and Long Term and Post Acute Care.

Earlier this week, the Commission announced two Town Call web conferences on June 16 and 17 to gather stakeholder input on new paths to certification of EHR technologies. Areas to be explored during the Town Calls include the crosswalk from certification to meaningful use, enhancements to current programs, and new and updated programs to make certification more accessible to a wider variety of EHR technologies, including modular, self-developed, and open source applications. Registration is required for both of the free Town Calls at http://cchit.org/towncalls.

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.