The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology has approved final 2009-2010 criteria for certification of ambulatory, inpatient and emergency department electronic health records.
The panel also approved criteria for its newly developed stand-alone electronic prescribing certification.
CCHIT also gave the green light to updated criteria for the ambulatory add-on options in child health and cardiovascular medicine. Besides the detailed criteria and test scripts, the panel will publish a companion guide mapping the criteria to the characteristics of a qualified EHR as described in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
The material will be published on May 29 at www.cchit.org.
"Over 200 volunteers have demonstrated their commitment to improving health and care by delivering this extensive body of work on time as promised," said CCHIT Chairman Mark Leavitt, MD. "We will be offering these certification criteria promptly to the Federal HIT Policy and Standards Committees, along with data from our four years of experience certifying health IT, as the committees race to meet their tight deadlines."
The certification handbook, containing the policies of the commission's certification programs, is undergoing a significant revision to take into account the expanded applicability of EHR certification under ARRA, Leavitt said. Changes will include a more extensive verification of successful implementation and use of commercial products, as well as piloting of a new program to inspect and certify EHR technologies-in-use that will accommodate a wider variety of development and deployment models.
The commission has also formed a sub-committee to research usability measurement.
Leavitt noted that according to the Office of the National Coordinator's program implementation plan, the draft rule – which includes standards and certification criteria – must be submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services by Aug. 26.
"We will defer launch of our 2009-2010 inspection programs until we have reviewed that material, in order to ensure conformance of this program to ARRA incentive requirements," Leavitt said.
The commission will release the updated certification handbook and announce further details regarding application for 2009-2010 certification in June or July.
