CCHIT To Expand Comprehensive Certification Programs To Oncology And Women’s Health

ATLANTA – March 1, 2010 – The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®) provided an update on its certification programs, including plans for expansion to Oncology and Women’s Health, at a Town Hall meeting today at the HIMSS10 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Atlanta.

The Certification Commission announced that it will begin development of Comprehensive electronic health record (EHR) certification programs in Oncology and Women’s Health. These programs represent the next step in the Commission’s expansion roadmap to address the needs of professional specialties, care settings, and patient populations.  Previous expansions led to Comprehensive certification offerings for Cardiovascular Medicine, Child Health and Emergency Departments.  Programs currently being developed for launch this summer include Behavioral Health, Clinical Research, Dermatology, and Long Term and Post-Acute Care (LTPAC).

“The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, representing over 53,000 members dedicated to women's healthcare, is pleased to be assisting the Certification Commission in developing specialty specific criteria for obstetrics and gynecology and women's healthcare”, said Albert Strunk, J.D., M.D., FACOG, deputy executive vice president and vice president of Fellowship Activities.  “Although obstetrics and gynecology shares some of the basic EHR functionalities required in other specialties there are some unique requirements that are not available in current records. We hope that the certification criteria specific to women's healthcare will help improve EMR adoption among those providers who focus on women's health.”
 
“The American Society of Clinical Oncology applauds CCHIT's focus on certification for oncology-specific EHRs”, said Douglas Blayney, M.D., ASCO’s president.  “Setting standards through certification will strengthen EHR systems to better facilitate communication, support education, and enhance patient care.  ASCO looks forward to supporting CCHIT in this endeavor.”

Development of these two new programs will begin following an open recruitment for volunteer work group members conducted only through the Commission’s Web site from March 16 through April 16, 2010. Those interested in applying should visit http://www.cchit.org/participate, beginning on March 16, for more information.  Work Group members will be announced in June.

Latest Certification Programs Drawing Strong Response

“Both our CCHIT Certified® Comprehensive and Modular certification programs have been updated to conform to the criteria in the Interim Final Rule, we are open for applications, and the response has been strong,” said Alisa Ray, CCHIT’s executive director.  “A total of 46 applications are in progress under the various new programs, with 50 percent seeking or receiving Comprehensive certification, and 50 percent  pursuing Modular certification.”

The updated criteria, test scripts, handbooks, agreements and other supportive documents  for CCHIT’s Comprehensive IFR Stage 1 and Modular IFR Stage 1 certification programs are available at http://www.cchit.org/get_certified. 

About CCHIT

The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®) is an independent, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with the public mission of accelerating the adoption of robust, interoperable health information technology.  The Commission has been certifying electronic health record technology since 2006.  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.