As the government shutdown continues, many of our clients pursuing ONC certification are encountering roadblocks in accessing official testing tools, data, and documentation. This disruption comes at a critical time—especially as the HTI-1 2025, which includes USCDI v3, deadline approaches.
At Dynamic Health IT (DHIT), we understand that attestation & certification timelines can’t always wait for Washington. In this post, we’ll break down what the shutdown means for ongoing certification work, which resources remain available, and how organizations can continue progressing through the ASTP/ONC Certification process.
Understanding the Impact on ONC Certification
The shutdown has affected access to several ONC-managed resources, including official certification websites and testing environments. For vendors and developers working on C-CDA and CQM/QRDA testing, this creates uncertainty about tool availability and test case validation.
Several tools and community resources remain active, allowing you to continue internal testing and preparation until federal systems are fully restored.
Status of ONC Testing Tools and Certification Criteria
Here’s what we currently know about key certification criteria and tool availability:
| Testing Tool | Current Status | ONC Criteria | Notes |
| C-CDA Validation (SITE) | 🔴 Down | §170.315(b)(1),(b)(2),e(1), g(6),g(9) | ACBs currently lack a scenario-specific solution. DHIT has the C-CDA Validator capable of testing conformance of the C-CDA and negative test cases in the Document Center for HTI-1 2025 compliance. GitHub repositories for test data remain accessible. |
| ONC-Specific Test Data Criteria (HTI-1 2025 Focus) (SITE) | 🟡 Preparation Recommended | §170.315(b)(1),(b)(2),e(1), g(6),g(9) | GitHub repositories for test data remain accessible. Testing can proceed locally using cached test data or open-source equivalents. |
| CQM QRDA (Cypress) | 🔴 Down | §170.315(c)(1),(c)(2),(c)(3),(c)(4) | ACBs are providing access to their self-hosted Cypress Tool. DHIT maintains a self-hosted Cypress instance. |
Continuing Testing and Validation Work
While federal servers are offline, organizations can keep momentum using open and community-based tools:
- Local C-CDA Validator: Open-source validation for C-CDA documents remains an effective alternative to government-hosted validators.
- GitHub Test Data: Test scripts, example data, and previous test decks are still available on public GitHub repositories for C-CDA and QRDA validation.
- ETT Google Group: Active discussions continue among healthcare developers and vendors—offering valuable insight on workaround strategies, tool availability, and certification body updates.
- Cypress: official, open-source testing tool used to verify that a certified EHR technology (CEHRT) can accurately calculate and report Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs) using the QRDA Category I and III formats — as required by ONC §170.315(c)(1–3)
USCDI v3
The United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) Version 3 added 24 data elements and two new data classes, Health Status and Health Insurance Information. USCDI v3 is required beginning January 1st, 2026, so understanding these additions now helps teams stay ahead of HTI-1 requirements.
How DHIT Can Help
If your team needs help navigating test environments, interpreting USCDI updates, or validating your C-CDA/QRDA output, contact Dynamic Health IT to make sure your certification stays on track.
We are actively supporting clients through these challenges by:
- HTI-1 2025 Certified
- Guiding clients through successful HTI-1 2025 Certification and Attestation
- Assisting with b(1) Incoming and Negative Testing preparations
- Providing up-to-date guidance on test tool status and ONC criteria
- Helping teams interpret USCDI v3 requirements and their overlap with USCDI v1 and v2
- Offering local validation and test environments to maintain certification progress
Whether you’re working toward ASTP certification, validating updates for HTI-1 compliance, or prepping for Real World Test Plan Results, our team can help you move forward—shutdown or not.
Resource Links
- Web archive
- C-CDA Search
- C-CDA IG
- Lantana Test Tool
- 3.0.0 IG
- HL7 Approved Patches
- PHIN VADS DOWN
- Github Certification Patient PDF Stories
