Certification Commission Launches 2011 Certification

CHICAGO – October 7, 2009 – The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®) announced that it opened applications for new certification programs today as planned. In addition to an updated Comprehensive electronic health record (EHR) certification program, called CCHIT Certified® 2011, the Commission is offering a modular certification program called Preliminary ARRA 2011 that is limited to the standards for qualifying EHR technology under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Complete information about these programs, their requirements and the application is available at http://www.cchit.org/get_certified.

“Our decision to move forward instead of waiting has been met with a very positive response,” said Alisa Ray, CCHIT executive director. “The ‘Get Certified’ workshop on October 1 exceeded our attendance expectations, drawing over 310 people, with strong interest in both programs.  Today, we are opening both of our 2011 programs for certification applications from vendors and developers.”

The Commission is introducing a new label called “Certification Facts™” to help physicians and hospitals understand the differences in the EHR technology certified under these two separate programs. Each certified product or technology listed at the Commission’s Web site, http://cchit.org, will have a link to a page describing its qualifications. For EHRs in the CCHIT Certified 2011 Comprehensive program, the Certification Facts label will indicate not only the domain – Ambulatory, Inpatient, Emergency Department or ePrescribing – and options – Cardiovascular Medicine, Child Health and Advanced Interoperability – but also the Meaningful Use objectives supported by the product. In addition to the Certification Facts label, that page will include, for CCHIT Certified products only, an optional Usability Rating, as well as detailed information about the product and company.  These enhanced product information features will also become searchable in November or December as EHR products complete the 2011 inspection process and are announced.

For technology certified in the Preliminary ARRA 2011 program, the Certification Facts label will only indicate which of the Meaningful Use objectives are supported by the technology. The label will allow eligible providers and hospitals to understand which product – or products in combination – can support all the necessary objectives to qualify for ARRA incentive funding.

More information about the programs and the Certification Facts label is available at <http://www.cchit.org/sites/all/files/2009/CCHIT2011CertificationProgramsOverview200910.pdf>.

About CCHIT
The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®) is an independent, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that has been recognized by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) since 2006 as an official certification body for electronic health records (EHR). Its public mission is to accelerate the adoption of robust, interoperable health information technology.  More information on CCHIT, CCHIT Certified® products and Preliminary ARRA certified technology is available at http://cchit.org and http://ehrdecisions.com . 

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