Alisa Ray, executive director of the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology, said Friday that CCHIT doesn't foresee a backlog of any kind in accommodating testing for meaningful use certification.
On Friday, CCHIT announced it had so far completed 33 certifications as an authorized certification testing body (ACTB) in just over three weeks because of its vast experience with the certification process. "We have been able to fold ONC-ATCB quickly into our structure," said Ray at a press conference.
CCHIT has also scaled up its capacity to accommodate the increased demand. "All of the developers who have sought a testing date have been able to get their preferred date," she said, adding that the commission expects to announce more certified EHR products each week on a rolling basis as testing is completed.
Ray advises all applicants to thoroughly prepare before they apply for inspection. "CCHIT has always advised vendors to come prepared," she said, in order to streamline the process.
CCHIT is now offering an ATCB toolkit to help vendors prepare for certification. The toolkit is available for "a small fee" that is credited back to the vendor when they apply for certifications. "Our customers seem to like the product a lot," said Ray.
Ray said she is not surprised 33 vendors were able to qualify products so quickly, as many have been following the development of test criteria throughout the whole process.
"Many vendors were working on the rules as they developed trying to keep up and be as prepared as could be," she said. "That's what you're seeing reflected in the ones that we announced today. There are still some with very good products that will be certified that are now in the pipeline."
CCHIT will post the certified products on their website starting today. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is expected to also post the names as early as next week, but a URL for that website is not known at this time, Ray said.
