On Wednesday, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT said that it expects to authorize several entities to test and certify electronic health record products, likely leading to a more competitive, expedient and transparent process, Government Health IT reports (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 7/21).
On June 18, ONC released a final rule on a temporary program designed to help ONC approve organizations to test and certify electronic health records under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package.
Under the stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate "meaningful use" of certified EHRs will qualify for federal incentive payments (iHealthBeat, 6/21).
Applications Coming In
According to National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal, since July 1, 30 organizations have requested applications to become authorized testing and certification bodies (Government Health IT, 7/21).
Thus far, 16 entities have submitted applications, he said (Manos, Healthcare IT News, 7/21).
On Tuesday, the Certification Commission for Health IT submitted its application to be certified as an authorized testing and certification body (CCHIT release, 7/21). Since 2004, CCHIT has been the only federally approved group to certify EHRs.
ONC officials have 30 days to approve an application after submission (Healthcare IT News, 7/21).
Timeline
ONC has said that it expects EHR certification and testing to begin this summer (Government Health IT, 7/21).