CCHIT Chair Discusses Group’s Future Role, Stimulus Package

In an interview with Modern Healthcare, Mark Leavitt, chair of the Certification Commission for Healthcare IT, discussed CCHIT’s current work and its potential role in developing certification criteria for determining which electronic health record systems will be eligible to receive funding under the economic stimulus law.

Although the federal stimulus law calls for the national coordinator for health IT to identify “a program or programs for the voluntary certification of health IT,” it does not specifically endorse CCHIT.

Because the economic stimulus package includes substantial federal subsidies for health care providers who adopt health IT, CCHIT’s certification criteria seek to ensure that “taxpayers’ money is not being wasted,” Leavitt said. He added, “Certification is basically a protection for the taxpayer.”

Leavitt said that he believes a single certification organization can best accomplish this task, because “the more organizations there are, the more likely it is” that substandard technology will gain approval.

Leavitt also discussed CCHIT’s future plans, which include releasing criteria for add-on features of EHRs used in child care and cardiology. The commission also aims to test and certify “stand-alone” electronic prescribing systems for the first time. Leavitt added that CCHIT will develop testing and certification programs “as fast as we can” for applications used by medical specialists.

Although some representatives from the open-source software community have questioned the compatibility of CCHIT’s certification program with open-source systems, Leavitt said the commission plans to work with open-source technologies to ensure that such systems are “not at a disadvantage” (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 5/28).

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http://www.ihealthbeat.org/Articles/2009/5/29/
CCHIT-Chair-Discusses-Groups-Future-Role-Federal-Stimulus-Funding.aspx