The Long-Term and Post-Acute Care task force of the Certification Commission for Healthcare IT has released recommendations for a new electronic health record certification program targeting long-term and post-acute care facilities, Health Data Management reports.
The certification program would cover:
- Inpatient rehabilitation centers;
- Long-term acute-care hospitals;
- Medicare-certified home health agencies; and
- Skilled nursing and nursing facilities.
In developing EHR certification criteria for these facilities, the task force recommended that CCHIT:
- Develop a timeline for implementing the criteria;
- Discern criteria specific to each type of setting;
- Identify criteria commonalities across all four settings; and
- Implement or adapt CCHIT criteria from other programs (Goedert, Health Data Management, 6/30).
The certification criteria are intended to have "a strong focus" on EHR standards included in the federal economic stimulus package.
Next Steps
The task force will integrate its proposals with other CCHIT recommendations and begin to develop EHR certification criteria for long-term and post-acute care facilities during meetings on July 15 and 16.
CCHIT said it plans to roll out EHR certification for skilled nursing facilities and home health care in 2010 as part of its newly developed 2011-2012 EHR certification programs (Manos, Healthcare IT News, 6/30).
The task force's recommendations are available online (.pdf).