CCHIT certifies new EHR products under new 08 criteria
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) has certified 10 EHR products for office-based physicians under new CCHIT-certified 2008 criteria.
The commission added 19 criteria to the 200 required in 2007. The new criteria focused on the ability to exchange patient information with other systems. This year, optional ambulatory EHR certification was also available for Child Health and Cardiovascular Medicine.
“Two key new areas of interoperability are required to achieve 08 certification,” said Mark Leavitt, MD, PhD, chair, CCHIT. "First, ambulatory EHRs must be capable of advanced electronic prescribing functions so physicians can qualify for bonuses under Medicare’s new incentive program. Second, EHRs must be able to send and receive an electronic patient summary—which we confirm using our Laika interoperability testing tool. These and other new criteria will ensure that certified health IT products help improve quality, safety and efficiency while protecting the privacy of health information.”
The eight new fully CCHIT-certified 08 ambulatory EHR products are:
Also, on Oct. 1, a certification program for health information exchanges (HIEs) will open for the first time. Recognizing that some HIEs are in an early stage of funding and business development, and wishing to lower the barriers to certification for these entities, the commission has received a limited amount of funding from the Office of the National Coordinator Health IT to support certification fee reduction grants for nonprofit, operational HIEs with limited annual revenues.
The commission added 19 criteria to the 200 required in 2007. The new criteria focused on the ability to exchange patient information with other systems. This year, optional ambulatory EHR certification was also available for Child Health and Cardiovascular Medicine.
“Two key new areas of interoperability are required to achieve 08 certification,” said Mark Leavitt, MD, PhD, chair, CCHIT. "First, ambulatory EHRs must be capable of advanced electronic prescribing functions so physicians can qualify for bonuses under Medicare’s new incentive program. Second, EHRs must be able to send and receive an electronic patient summary—which we confirm using our Laika interoperability testing tool. These and other new criteria will ensure that certified health IT products help improve quality, safety and efficiency while protecting the privacy of health information.”
The eight new fully CCHIT-certified 08 ambulatory EHR products are:
- Community Computer Service, MEDENT, version 18, additionally certified for Child Health;
- eClinicalWorks, eClinicalWorks, version 8, additionally certified for Child Health;
- Epic Systems Corporation, EpicCare Ambulatory EMR, version Spring 2008, additionally certified for Child Health;
- Greenway Medical Technologies, PrimeSuite, version 2008, additionally certified for Child Health and Cardiovascular Medicine;
- McKesson Provider Technologies, Practice Partner, version 9.3, additionally certified for Child Health;
- MedLink International, MedLink TotalOffice, version 3.1;
- MedPlexus, MedPlexus EHR, version 9.2, additionally certified for Child Health;
- NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, NextGen EMR, version 5.5.27, additionally certified for Child Health and Cardiovascular Medicine
- Pulse Systems, Pulse Patient Relationship Management, version 4.1
- VIP Medicine LLC, SmartClinic, version 16
Also, on Oct. 1, a certification program for health information exchanges (HIEs) will open for the first time. Recognizing that some HIEs are in an early stage of funding and business development, and wishing to lower the barriers to certification for these entities, the commission has received a limited amount of funding from the Office of the National Coordinator Health IT to support certification fee reduction grants for nonprofit, operational HIEs with limited annual revenues.