EMR Certification Confusion – Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies

Source of Confusion
It seems a common source of confusion around the meaningful use certification requirements from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) involves the position of the industry’s previous certifying body, CCHIT. Many of the questions and much of the online literature published prior to the official release of ONC’s certification requirements indicated that using CCHIT for certification would not satisfy the ONC’s meaningful use certification standards. Unfortunately, a quick Google search on the subject still yields numerous top results presenting this stance.

Clarification
Two Important Points:

1. Despite those well-intentioned speculations, it’s important to note that as of September 3, 2010, the ONC officially authorized 2 organizations: CCHIT and Drummond Group as the only two “ONC-Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ATCBs). On Sepember 24, a third organization – InfoGard Laboratories – was added as an ATCB. (Reference: http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&mode=2&objID=3120).
2. EMRs with previous CCHIT certification will not be “grandfathered” in to ONC certification. Vendors in this category will need to re-certify with ONC standards to meet the government’s “meaningful use” requirements. Naturally, this re-certification effort will likely not be revolutionary for CCHIT-certified vendors.