Certification

On Dec. 17, the federal Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released the Final 2014 Test Method containing the processes and tools for testing electronic health records as part of the meaningful use process under the HITECH Act.

In this podcast, Robin Raiford, research director in the Advisory Board’s IT Strategy Council, will be sharing her analysis and key takeaways from the Stage 2 meaningful use final rule. Raiford is a clinical informatics and meaningful use expert and industry speaker. She also specializes in clinical decision support and computerized provider order entry (CPOE). Raiford is the creator of the Meaningful Use Stage 1 Final Rule, The White Board Story which is a summary view of all the regulatory documents surrounding meaningful use and the EHR incentive program.

Five firms have received accreditations of health information technology certification bodies by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), coordinator of the U.S. voluntary standardization system, under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) Permanent Certification Program for Health Information Technology (HIT). The five are Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), Drummond Group, Inc., ICSA Laboratories, Inc., InfoGard Laboratories, Inc., and Orion Register, Inc.

The headline for the ONC’s new proposed rule standards and certification criteria for EHRs 2014 edition, which was rolled out at HIMSS this year, has been all about flexibility. The ONC has envisioned the new certification criteria also giving clearer definitions of certification requirements, promoting progress toward interoperability, and reducing regulatory burden.

Farzad Mostashari, M.D., the national coordinator for health IT, held a hastily arranged press conference on the morning of Thursday, Feb. 23, as the prooposed rule for stage 2 of meaningful use under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act/Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (ARRA-HITECH) Act was being readied for publication in the Federal Register. As Dr. Mostashari explained to journalists gathered in a meeting room at the Venetian Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, the final rule for stage 2 was ready for publication, but an electronic formatting snafu had delayed its formal publication. Please “chill,” Dr. Mostashari implored the assembled press. He also told members of the press that the final rule would appear online within the next day, as attendees at HIMSS12 and across the healthcare industry awaited the electronic unveiling of the final rule.