More Than 70 Percent of Attested EHRs are Dually Certified by CCHIT

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® programs of the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology, says a news release from CCHIT. According to the latest figures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), 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,” said Karen M. Bell, MD, chair, CCHIT. “It’s no surprise that the vast majority of physicians and other providers are choosing tried and true CCHIT Certified products that have been proven over the years to support their unique business and patient care needs.”

CCHIT continues to certify EHR products in both programs. Some health IT companies previously certified by CCHIT in the ONC-ATCB program are now returning to become CCHIT Certified. 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.

A letter from Dr. Bell with a deeper analysis of these results as they pertain to office-based providers is available at CCHIT’s blog EHR Decisions.

Source: CCHIT News Release