More Options for EHR Approval?
Ever since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into law, members of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) have been crossing their fingers in hopes of being named the official EHR certification body. For the past few years, the Commission has been the go-to group for assessing an EHR system's functionality, so it only made sense-at least to those on the Commission-that it would assume the responsibility of ensuring EHRs meet ARRA demands. CCHIT even recommended its certification criteria to the Health and Human Services (HHS) HIT Policy Committee as it grappled with definitions of "meaningful use."
But CCHIT isn't the certification shoe-in it hoped to be. On Aug. 14, the Policy Committee made recommendations that invited the possibility of having multiple certification bodies. According to the proposal, HHS would set certification criteria, which the bodies would use to determine whether an EHR system warrants a stamp of approval. CCHIT would serve as the sole certifying body until "meaningful use" definitions are finalized in December, at which point other groups could vie for certification rights, according to Government Health IT. The National Coordinator for HIT and National Institute for Standards and Technology would select the new certification bodies, the report said.
The Washington Post noted that CCHIT has been scrutinized for its close ties to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), which includes several EHR vendors. Though the Commission is an independent entity, it has a number of overlaps in leadership with HIMSS, and critics worry there is too much industry influence on the Commission. Such questions prompted the Policy Committee to recommend appointing multiple certification bodies, thus avoiding the inevitable feud that would result from making CCHIT the sole decider, according to the Post.
How do you feel about these latest developments? Do you think CCHIT would make the best certification body? What other groups could give a reliable seal of approval?