The Certification Commission (CCHIT) announced that five more healthcare systems have joined Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in certifying complete or modular EHRs under CCHIT’s EHR Alternative Certification for Healthcare Providers, or EACH, an ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification program for already installed EHR technology. Those organizations now include:

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA
Health Management Associates, Naples, FL
New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY
Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Tenet Healthsystem Medical Inc., Dallas, TX
University of North Carolina Health Care, Chapel Hill, NC

Certified EHR technology is required for hospitals and eligible providers to qualify for ARRA funding and avoid future Medicare penalties. CCHIT’s EACH certification is a program designed for healthcare providers that have uncertified legacy software, customized commercial products, or have developed their own EHR systems. The EACH certification testing relies on standards and criteria developed by the Office the National Coordinator (ONC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and testing procedures and tools developed for ONC by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.