Commission Making Progress Certifying Products For Incentive Programs

CHICAGO – Dec. 21, 2009 – The Certification Commission today announced continued progress in certifying electronic health record (EHR) technology against proposed federal standards to support providers in qualifying for incentives under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).  A total of 14 products have now been certified under its two new programs – CCHIT Certified® 2011 Comprehensive, and Preliminary ARRA 2011 – launched on Oct. 7, 2009. 

“We believe it will be a challenge for providers who have not yet begun to evaluate products to  purchase and implement EHR technology and achieve meaningful use in time for the 2011-2012 incentives”, said Alisa Ray, the Commission’s executive director. “We have received more than 30 applications for our 2011 certification programs – more than half of which are for the Comprehensive program – and are announcing new certifications regularly so providers can begin to consider EHR technology that demonstrates compliance with the proposed federal standards.”

New products have been certified in both programs. The CCHIT Certified 2011 Comprehensive program differs from the Preliminary ARRA certification program by providing a more rigorous inspection of integrated EHR functionality, interoperability, and security in addition to full compliance with federal standards.  As part of the Comprehensive inspection process, key aspects of successful use are verified at live sites, and usability is rated for ambulatory EHRs.  The CCHIT Certified Comprehensive program is intended to serve health care providers looking for maximal assurance that a product will meet their complex needs, as well as support their achievement of meaningful use to qualify for the ARRA financial incentives.

The products currently certified in the CCHIT Certified 2011 Comprehensive program for Ambulatory EHRs include:

• ABEL Medical Software Inc.’s ABELMed EHR-EMR/PM, Version 11
• EHS, Inc.’s EHS CareRevolution, Version 5.3
• Compulink’s Advantage/EHR, Version 10
• Greenway Medical Technologies, Inc.’s PrimeSuite, Version 2011
• NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc.’s NextGen EHR, Version 5.6
• Pulse Systems’ Pulse Relationship Management, Version 4.1.02

The first product certified in the CCHIT Certified 2011 Comprehensive program for standalone electronic prescribing (ePrescribing) is:

• Networking Technology’s (dba RxNT) RxNT, Version 6.1.4

More product information and new listings are available at http://www.cchit.org/products/CCHIT_Certified.

The Preliminary ARRA 2011 program is a modular, limited certification and inspects technology only against the Federal standards. It offers maximal flexibility for health IT companies, developers and providers in meeting ARRA 2011-2012 certification requirements. The seven products currently listed in the Preliminary ARRA 2011 program may be found at http://www.cchit.org/products/Preliminary_ARRA. 

The Certification Facts™ label displayed with every product listing describes all certifications granted and lists which meaningful use objectives are supported by the technology. The ARRA certification component of both programs is considered preliminary because the definitions of meaningful use, criteria and standards have been proposed but not yet finalized by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  Health IT companies testing against the proposed standards now will be provided the opportunity to quickly close any gaps after the final rules are published in the Federal Register in spring 2010.

Public Comment Period Open
The Commission has opened public comment at http://www.cchit.org/participate/public-comment now through Jan. 12, 2010 on the first round of criteria for Long Term and Post Acute Care (LTPAC) EHRs. The first priority for this new domain is development of a core set of criteria for the collection of care settings encompassed in LTPAC and specific criteria for the first two settings – skilled nursing facilities and home health agencies – identified as priorities by the Commission’s LTPAC Advisory Task Force. These certification programs are scheduled for a July 2010 launch.

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.