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CCHIT Offers A Workshop- Get Certified 2011 To Prepare HIT Companies and Developers

Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), the official certification body for EHR, recognized by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced the launch of new certification programs on October 7, 2009. In addition to the updated comprehensive EHR certification program, CCHIT Certified 2011, the organization will also offer a modular certification program called Preliminary ARRA 2011 that is limited to the standards for qualifying EHR technology under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Mark Leavitt, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Commission says,  “On our Town Call September 3, which drew over 700 attendees, we received valuable feedback on our proposed programs, and a strong indication of interest from health IT companies and developers in applying for timely certification under these programs.”

HHS criteria and standards are expected to be published by the end of 2009. Final rules on Meaningful Use are expected later in the Spring of 2010.  If that process results in the introduction of new requirements, the Commission will offer vendors with preliminary certifications an incremental inspection at no additional fee to bring their certifications into alignment with the final rules. 

The Commission’s certification materials including criteria, test scripts and certification policies for both programs will be published at http://cchit.org  on September 24. Applications for certification will open online on October 7. Inorder to prepare HIT companies and developers to make their 2011 certified EHR technology available to providers sooner, the Commission is offering a workshop in the Chicago area on October 1.  The purpose of the workshop- Get Certified 2011, is to orient companies and developers to the new certification process and to use the new certification program tools effectively.

Source: CCHIT