The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology has finished appointing the 265 members for its 19 all-volunteer work groups.
These work groups will have the responsibility of transitioning the existing certification programs of the CCHIT. They will also be developing new methods of dertification that will adhere to the standards set forth by the terms of "meaningful use."
The initial criteria for "meaningful use" is scheduled to be released by the Office of the National Coordinator on June 16. The complete definition is required by the Department of Health and Human Services by Dec. 31.
Members for the work groups were chosen from a pool of more than 600 applicants. In all, 1,123 separate applications were submitted – four times more applications than available spots.
“This year more than 600 people volunteered – more than twice last year’s number – demonstrating the tremendous interest and commitment of the healthcare community to our efforts as an important part of the larger initiative to accelerate adoption and meaningful use of health IT,” said CCHIT Chairman Mark Leavitt, MD, PhD. “This year will bring dramatic challenges and changes, and we are grateful so many people are prepared to contribute their time and expertise to address them.”
The commission balanced new and returning members and considered individual experience to create the volunteer groups.
With the goal of achieving a high level of transparency and accountability under ARRA, the commission has limited the participation of healthcare IT vendors to 33 percent.
The work groups will meet for the first time on July 15-16 to recieve instruction and guidance from the CCHIT. Part of this meeting will be dedicated to reviewing the work of the ONC and any current works in progress.
To complement the 12 standing work groups, seven new groups were created to deal withclinical decision support, improvement of quality, interoperability, security, clinical research, dermatology and long term and post acute care.
The CCHIT will be hosting two Web conferences on June 16 and 17 to discuss opinions on new ways to achieve EHR certification. These conferences will cover topics that include the crosswalk from certification to "meaningful use," the advancement of current programs and ways to increase certification accessibility to a larger spectrum of EHR technologies.
