CCHIT Launches Alternative EHR CertificationCCHIT Launches Alternative EHR Certification

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The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) on Tuesday launched an electronic health record (EHR) certification program for hospitals.

Dubbed the EHR Alternative Certification for Hospitals (EACH), the program will evaluate how installed EHR technology at hospitals measures up to the requirements outlined by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to support meaningful use, as well as pursue certification for existing EHR technology not already covered by a vendor certification.

EACH combines online learning, assessment tools, and interaction with peers and experts to help hospitals meet the first hurdle in qualifying for EHR incentive payments. EACH is also an Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB) 2011/2012 certification program for installed hospital EHR technology and has been tested in a pilot program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston; Huntington Hospital, Pasadena, Calif.; and New York University Langone Medical Center, New York City.

According to CCHIT's chair, Karen Bell, the Commission has the expertise to meet the often complex needs of hospitals that have uncertified legacy software, customized commercial products, or have developed proprietary EHR systems. She also said CCHIT intends to expand its EHR certification program to doctors and other healthcare providers.

"CCHIT is in the process of developing a similar program for physicians and other ambulatory providers that have self-developed EHR technology, which will be launched in the second quarter of this year," Bell said in a statement. "These systems must be certified for hospitals and providers to qualify for financial incentives through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and avoid Medicare penalties."

The EACH program, relying on required ONC criteria and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) test procedures and tools, offers: a series of self-paced, online learning programs designed to prepare EACH program applicants for testing and certification; online inventory and self-assessment tools developed to help hospitals evaluate how their installed EHR technology measures up to ONC's criteria and standards; and additional hands-on support provided by CCHIT's EACH program staff and access to an online community of other hospitals participating in the EACH program.

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At Huntington Memorial Hospital, where the adoption of IT over the years has resulted in implementing a variety of technologies from different vendors, hospital executives said some applications are certified while other are not. Rebecca Armato, Huntington executive director of physician and interoperability services, said the EACH program is helping the hospital determine if they have the right mix of applications to not only qualify for ARRA funds, but also to go beyond meaningful use to deliver meaningful value to their patients and physicians.

"CCHIT's EACH certification program offers us an alternative that allows us to leverage our existing technology investments, avoid unnecessary purchases, and reduce dependency on our vendors' resources and timelines," Armato said in a statement. "We want to get this right the first time, and now, in one place, we have access to knowledgeable staff, vendor-neutral expertise, and online resources that can help us review and analyze any technology gaps we may have in meeting ONC's criteria."

Paul Conocenti, senior VP, vice dean, and CIO at NYU Langone Medical Center, said in a statement that EACH has helped his organization improve its health IT systems.

"In many ways our EHR systems reflect our operation use. The tools, process, and people of this program highlight critical areas where software may fall short, and where our operational workflow will be impacted," Conocenti said. "For example, adding a few fields to capture data for quality reporting is much easier to add to software than it is to meaningfully add to the complex workflows used at an academic medical center."

Alternative certification is not needed if a hospital has adopted an EHR with complete certification, or a combination of certified EHR modules that meet all of the 2011/2012 certification criteria adopted by DHHS to support the meaningful use objectives established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).