Health Care: EHR Certifications Help Answer the $64,000 question

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) recently announced the names of two companies that are now authorized to test and certify electronic health record (EHR) systems.   The first of these companies is the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), an organization that has been positioning itself for some time to handle certification, and the second is the Drummond Group Inc (DGI).  After the announcement, both companies became immediately authorized to start certifying EHR vendors.  The companies are known now as authorized testing and certification bodies or ATCBs.

David Blumenthal, MD, national coordinator for health IT said that “Multiple steps are underway to carry out the intent of Congress in supporting rapid and effective adoption of EHRs throughout our health care system.  The naming of initial ONC-ATCBs is one important step.  Actual certification of multiple vendors’ systems by the ONC-ATCBs is an important next step. CMS is also working to create an online system for providers to register and attest for the EHR incentive programs. The first incentive payments are targeted to be made in May 2011. Meanwhile, ONC is also carrying out new programs of technical assistance and training, especially for smaller hospitals and physician practices.”

Previously CCHIT had certification programs which they had self-created but which were not officially endorsed by the government.  EHR vendors that had been previously certified by CCHIT must now be recertified using the electronic health records meaningful use criteria of the ONC-ATCB.  The requirements for certification have been drawn up by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.  Health care providers must use EHR products that have been certified in order to qualify for the Medicare and Medicaid “meaningful use” incentive payments which can total as much as $44,000 for Medicare and nearly $64,000 for Medicaid.  In a sense, certification answers the $64,000 question of whether a vendor’s software meets the requirement of “meaningful use” to qualify for a cash incentive.

More than $20 billion in federal subsidies have been set aside by the HITECH Act of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the meaningful use of health IT and electronic health records.