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 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. The information on the Test Method is available at the ONC website.

The specifications, which include 48 test procedures and 18 sets of test data, will be used as guidance for electronic health record (EHR) manufacturers, as well as for patient care organizations whose leaders have self-developed their own EHRs. These are the test procedures and test data files that the EHR certification bodies and testing labs will use to evaluate the functionality of EHRs. The document provides testing methods for individual elements, such as for computerized physician order entry (CPOE), drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions checks, demographics, vital signs, problem lists, clinical decision support, and so on.

The ONC offers additional information on its 2014 web page.