Certification Process for EHR Products Under Way

Physicians considering the purchase of an electronic health record system in the near future are one step closer to having a bevy of certified products from which to choose.

On April 26, the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology, or CCHIT, announced the launch of its certification program for ambulatory EHR products. CCHIT -- which was awarded a three-year contract by HHS in September 2005 to develop and evaluate certification criteria and create an inspection process for health IT -- will accept vendor applications for certification from May 3-12.

"By early July, we will announce vendors who are certified," said Sue Reber, CCHIT communication director. "When that happens, physicians should use that list as part of their criteria for selecting an EHR product."

Academy EVP Douglas Henley, M.D., said the certification of EHR products is a step that's both "exciting" and "necessary."

"It will assure physicians who are ready to purchase an EHR that the products they select meet the specifications that were promised," said Henley. "That assurance should remove yet another obstacle for family physicians who want to implement an EHR in their offices."

Henley served as a CCHIT commissioner prior to his appointment to the American Health Information Community.

In an April 26 press release, Mark Leavitt, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the CCHIT Board of Commissioners, said he's hoping for a positive reception from the health IT industry. "Companies will find no surprises in the final criteria, which have been published and widely reviewed now for months," said Leavitt.

"It has taken the involvement of hundreds of people -- most of them volunteers -- spending literally thousands of hours to reach this milestone," he added. "Having a certification process in place allows the national health care IT agenda to take a significant step forward."

According to the press release, products that comply with all of the certification criteria will be issued a CCHIT certification document and will receive a CCHIT-certified ambulatory EHR seal for the specific product version and year reviewed. Vendors will pay $28,000 to cover application, testing and first-year certification maintenance fees.

Steven Waldren, M.D., assistant director of AAFP's Center for Health Information Technology and co-chair of CCHIT's ambulatory EHR functionality work group, said this is the first phase of an ongoing process and that the bar for meeting certification criteria will be raised in 2007 and again in 2008.

Currently, there are several hundred products out there for ambulatory physicians to choose from, but this year's certification criteria will whittle that number down a little, said Waldren.

Physicians should think of this as an "'Underwriters Laboratories' stamp of approval" that says certified products have some basic functionality and security, said Waldren. "Members can still look to the Academy's CHiT for help with their final product selection."