The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has named the American National Standards Institute as the designated accreditor for organizations that certify electronic health record systems under the permanent health IT certification program, Modern Healthcare reports (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 6/9).
Background on Permanent Certification Program
Health care providers seeking to meet meaningful use requirements can use EHR systems approved by ONC's authorized testing and certification bodies. Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful of certified EHRs can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.
In January, ONC issued a final rule to establish a permanent certification program for EHR systems and modules. The permanent program separates the testing and certifying of health IT products.
The final rule stipulates that ONC will choose one organization -- the ONC-approved accreditor -- to accredit groups aiming to become a health IT certification body. After an entity is accredited by the ONC-AA, it can apply to become an ONC-authorized certification body (iHealthBeat, 5/31).
Meanwhile, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, through its National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program, will accredit groups to test health IT systems (Modern Healthcare, 6/9).
Taking Steps Toward Permanent Certification Program
The selection of ANSI as the ONC-AA represents one of the first steps in the implementation of the permanent certification program, Healthcare IT News reports (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 6/10).
The permanent EHR certification program is scheduled to begin in 2012.
ANSI will serve a three-year term and could be re-selected after a competitive selection process (Goedert, Health Data Management, 6/10).