According to the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology, more than two-thirds (71 percent) of the complete electronic health records (EHRs) of providers and hospitals that have successfully attested to federal Meaningful Use criteria and qualified for incentives through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are dually certified under both the ONC-ATCB and the CCHIT Certified program. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) says approximately 22,000 eligible providers and hospitals with complete EHRs have successfully attested.
“These early adopters have the advantage of complete EHRs that not only meet the meaningful use requirements established by the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT (ONC), but also have been tested against the more rigorous clinical scenarios for functionality, interoperability and safety required by the independent CCHIT Certified program,” Karen M. Bell, M.D., chair, CCHIT, said in a statement.
CCHIT can certify EHR products in both programs. The CCHIT Certified program includes both “core” and “optional” certifications. Currently, optional, add-on certifications for specialty care or special patient populations include behavioral health, cardiovascular medicine, child health, dermatology, clinical research, oncology and women’s health.
“Moving forward, CCHIT will continue to review and upgrade its independently developed, comprehensive programs to ensure that EHR certification keeps pace with advances in the field, and meets the various information technology needs of health care providers in the future,” Bell said.
